AColombian court acquitted on Tuesday former President Alvaro Uribe of bribery during criminal proceedings.
Uribe, who served as Colombia’s president from 2002 to 2010, was witness tampering and procedural fraud in August and for which he was sentenced to 12 years of house arrest.
He is the first former Colombian president to be convicted of criminal charges.
The former leader’s appeal against the procedural fraud charge is still ongoing.
Why did the Colombian court acquit Uribe?
The Bogota High Court said that the charges had not been demonstrated “beyond reasonable doubt.”
“It was not proven directly or indirectly that Alvaro Uribe instigated the crime of bribery in criminal proceedings … therefore, the Court will overturn the sentence imposed on Alvaro Uribe Velez,” Judge Manuel Antonio Merchan said.
The court concluded that the initial sentence had “methodological errors, fallacies of interpretation and biased evaluation of evidence,” adding it had amounted to “inferences” without “objective support.”
Last month, Colombia’s Supreme Court ordered the release of Uribe from detention as his appeals were being processed.
Uribe has been accused of ties to right-wing paramilitariesImage: Jaime Saldarriaga/AFP
What was the case against Uribe?
Uribe’s time in office was marked by a broad military campaign against left-wing guerillas and drug cartels.
He had been accused of having bribed members of right-wing paramilitaries to lie about his alleged links to the groups during investigations into his role.
The paramilitaries were founded by cattle ranchers, landowners and merchants to fight leftist guerilla groups such as the FARC.
They have been accused of killing over 450,000 between 1985 and 2018.
Current President Gustavo Petro is a former guerilla who has butt heads with US counterpart Donald TrumpImage: Leonardo Munoz/AFP
Uribe charges deepen US-Colombia rift
Uribe has alleged that the charges were born out of political persecution against him.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed his support for the embattled former president, saying that the case was an example of “weaponization” by Colombian judges.
In response, left-wing President Gustavo Petro called for Washington to respect the independence of Colombia’s judiciary.
It comes amid a broader rift between the two countries, with US President Donald Trump threatening tariffs against Colombia over accusations of involvement of drug trafficking.
Edited by: Jenipher Camino Gonzalez
