The highly anticipated case will now be up for appeal after a court in Colombia overturned former president Alvaro Uribe’s convictions for fraud and bribery.
Two members of a three-member panel of three magistrates voted on Tuesday to toss the verdict against the 73-year-old Uribe, alleging that there were “structural deficiencies” in the prior decision, including insufficient evidence.
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The conviction of Uribe marked the first time a former president had been found guilty of a crime and given a sentence.
Uribe, a right-wing politician who served as president from 2002 to 2010, was found guilty in July of allegedly asking paramilitary members to fabricate information about his relationship with him.
Uribe has always maintained his innocence. However, those who think the decision on Tuesday reflects a lax attitude toward right-wing abuses have voiced their opposition.
The current president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, wrote on social media that “this is how the history of paramilitary governance is covered up.” That is the history of Colombia’s genocide-spying politicians who came to power allied with drug trafficking.
Uribe was ordered to serve in public office for just over eight years in August, and he was also subject to a $ 578,000 fine.
One of the main figures involved in the Uribe case, Senator Ivan Cepeda, has already stated that he intends to challenge the magistrates’ decision.
Cepeda stated on social media that “we will submit an appeal for cassation before the Supreme Court of Justice.”
suspected ties to paramilitary forces
The most recent ruling in a string of years-long legal battle that has exacerbated Colombia’s political divisions was on Tuesday.
In the South American nation, which has endured more than 60 years of internal conflict between government forces, left-wing rebels, right-wing paramilitaries, and criminal networks, Uribe is a controversial leader.
Uribe launched an iron-fisted military offensive against the country’s left-wing rebel groups while in office.
Critics have accused his government of blinding people to massacres that took place while they were taking place and, in some cases, encouraging soldiers to murder civilians to artificially increase the number of rebels killed.
Before serving as president, Uribe’s ties to right-wing paramilitaries were also under scrutiny.
Senator Cepeda had begun an investigation into the ex-president’s alleged connections to paramilitaries like the Bloque Metro in 2012, particularly during his ascent to political power in the 1990s.
Cepeda’s libel complaint was filed by Uribe, accusing the left-wing senator of using paramilitary members as witnesses.
However, the Supreme Court’s judges rendered an unexpected ruling when the case was brought before them in 2018. On the grounds of witness tampering, it dismissed the case against Cepeda and instead launched an investigation into Uribe.
Uribe acknowledged sending his attorneys to paramilitary personnel in prison, but he refuted the accusations that he had made a plot to persuade three witnesses to change their accounts.
Judge Sandra Liliana Heredia ruled in July that there was sufficient evidence to show that Uribe had conspired to manipulate the witnesses. In Tuesday’s decision, her decision was overturned.
influence on Colombia’s election
Colombia’s upcoming presidential election, which is scheduled to take place in May 2026, may have a significant impact on what comes next in the case. In Colombian politics, Uribe continues to be well-known.
Donald Trump, the president of the United States, whose administration has supported right-wing leaders facing legal action in Latin America, has also been interested in his case.
Trump has repeatedly alleged bias against conservative voices in the US and Latin America’s courts.
“Uribe’s only crime has been fighting and defending his homeland unwaveringly.” After Uribe was found guilty, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted on X earlier this year about the weaponization of Colombia’s judicial branch by radical judges.
The first left-wing president of the nation, Petro, is term-limited and cannot run in the election of 2026.
Petro speculated in a social media post that Trump’s support for Uribe’s supporters would be strengthened by Tuesday’s decision.
Petro and the Trump administration have been at odds over tariffs and conflicting legal positions on illicit drugs.
Trump will now seek sanctions against the president who supported paramilitary drug trafficking in Colombia with the assistance of those who supported paramilitarism in the country, Petro posted on X.
If Uribe’s legal situation permits, his party, Democratic Center, has already indicated that he will run for senator.
Senator Cepeda has indicated his candidacy for president in the upcoming election, according to Al Jazeera correspondent Alessandro Rampietti.
Rampietti explained from Bogota: “There’s no denying that this will change or will have significant repercussions in the country’s upcoming election campaign,” but also that this is not the last word.
