A Colombian court sentenced former President Álvaro Uribe Vélez to 12 years of house arrest over the weekend, following charges of procedural abuse and bribery of a public official.
Additionally, Uribe is prohibited from holding public office for 100 months and 20 days. He is also required to pay the Colombian state a fine of 2,420 minimum wages, amounting to over 3.4 billion Colombian pesos, or approximately $840,000.
Judge Sandra Heredia announced the sentence on Friday, shortly after Uribe was found guilty on two of the three charges brought against him during a complex and extensive trial, which several Colombian politicians and U.S. government officials criticized as illegitimate.
Throughout the hearing, Judge Heredia emphasized that the house arrest sentence was “necessary” and ordered Uribe to serve it at his residence in the municipality of Rionegro, Antioquia.
The trial culminating in this week’s verdict began in 2012 when Uribe accused leftist Senator Iván Cepeda of encouraging false testimony against him. By 2018, Colombian courts had dismissed Uribe’s complaint and instead initiated an investigation against him, which eventually led to his controversial conviction.
“This originates from one of the lawmakers close to [current far-left President Gustavo] Petro, who is Iván Cepeda,” Colombian Senator Paloma Valencia stated last week. “He was found visiting prisons — evidence confirmed — to solicit testimonies against President Uribe, connecting him to paramilitaries, in return for judicial favors that included humanitarian benefits.”
Uribe appealed the conviction on Friday in an online conference with the court, fiercely defending his honor, good name, and innocence. The former president denounced the ruling against him as politically biased and called upon both national and international courts to review the sentence.
“The damage to my reputation has gone through many stages, including Monday’s. And we saw how the office and the prosecutor’s office smiled and exchanged smiles,” Uribe reportedly said during the hearing. “Monday’s damage to my reputation was something that, in front of such a large audience, few Colombians have ever suffered.”
On Sunday, the former president shared a link to a website that contained a copy of his 30-page appeal document and a recording of its online presentation to the court.
The former president’s defense team asserts that Uribe’s presumption of innocence remains intact, as there are other judicial appeals still available.
Colombian outlets reported on Monday morning that Uribe’s legal team will file a writ of protection at the Colombian Supreme Court seeking to overturn the house arrest sentence issued by Judge Heredia. Jaime Granados, one of Uribe’s lawyers, will reportedly file an appeal against the guilty conviction at the Colombian top court on Wednesday, August 13.
Colombian leftist Senator Cepeda, who Uribe originally sued at the start of the legal process against the former president, claimed to reporters on Monday morning that there is a “campaign of pressure and persecution” against Judge Hereida over her sentencing of Uribe and accused Uribe’s conservative Democratic Center party of engaging in a purported “historical pattern of judicial interference.”
According to Cepeda, statements by American Secretary of State Marco Rubio and American Congressmen in support of Uribe are part of an alleged persecution campaign against the judge. Cepeda did not present evidence to substantiate his accusations.
“We know that there is an advocacy campaign in Washington promoted by sectors of the Democratic Center, with the knowledge and probably the participation of former President Uribe,” Cepeda reportedly claimed.
The Democratic Center announced that it would organize peaceful rallies on Thursday morning in support of Uribe, democracy, and freedom. At press time, the latest public update from the party indicates that rallies will be held in over 20 of Colombia’s main cities, with similar gatherings organized in the United States in Miami and Houston, and in five different cities in Spain, including Madrid, Barcelona, and Valencia.
