The former Colombian president Álvaro Uribe was sentenced to 12 years of house arrest for bribery and procedural fraud, in a historic decision that makes him the first former president convicted and deprived of freedom in Colombia.
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The 73-year-old former ruler will also be disqualified from holding public office for more than eight years, according to a document from the verdict.
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Why was Uribe convicted in Colombia?
Uribe, who governed Colombia between 2002 and 2010, was found guilty on Monday of obstructing justice and manipulating witnesses to prevent being linked to paramilitaries.
Other investigations link the former president to those far-right squads, responsible for numerous atrocious crimes against civilians during the armed conflict.
After the conviction, Uribe sued the current president Gustavo Petro for “harassment” and “slander,” his lawyers indicated this Friday.
This past Friday, Petro made references to paramilitarism on the social network X. In a post, he stated that Uribe, his fiercest political rival, “did not combat paramilitary terrorism, but rather made agreements with it several times.”