Former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe has been found guilty in a high-profile bribery and witness tampering case.
According to Reuters, Uribe, who remained president of Colombia from 2002 to 2010, on Monday, July 28, was convicted of witness tampering, bribery, and human rights abuse.
After the conviction, the 73-year-old became the first former president of the country to be found guilty of a crime at trial.
Judge Sandra Liliana Heredia told the court ahead of reading the around 1,000-page decision that took about nine hours, “Justice does not kneel before power. It is at the service of the Colombian people. We want to say to Colombia that justice has arrived.”
Uribe, with one of his lawyers, Jaime Granados, attended the hearing online, while his other legal representative, Jaime Lombana, was present in the court.
The decision came almost 13 years after he was first charged in 2012 and more than a year before Colombia’s 2026 presidential election.
It is worth noting that all of the charges against the former president carry between six and 12 years in prison. However, it is expected that he will appeal the decision.
Juan Felipe Amaya from Uribe’s legal team told media at the court, “This is not the end of this process, the appeal is next, and we are going to demonstrate that this decision, which we respect, is wrong.”
Furthermore, Judge Heredia is expected to sentence Uribe in the next hearing.
