A judge found former Colombian president Álvaro Uribe guilty of bribery and witness tampering on Monday.
This marks the first time that a Colombian ex-president has been convicted in a criminal trial. The landmark ruling follows a long legal battle that dates back more than a decade.
In 2012, Uribe levied allegations against Senator Iván Cepeda, accusing Cepeda of orchestrating a plot to tie Uribe to paramilitary groups. In a dramatic reversal, Colombia’s Supreme Court cleared Cepeda and instead opened criminal proceedings against Uribe for allegedly pressuring imprisoned paramilitaries to recant testimony.
Colombia does not have jury trials, as is typically the case in civil law countries. In Monday’s ruling, Judge Sandra Liliana Heredia found Uribe guilty on two charges. First, Uribe was found guilty of abuse of process, or “fraude procesal,” under Article 453 of Colombia’s Criminal Code. Second, he was found guilty of bribery in criminal proceedings, or “soborno en actuación penal,” under Article 444-A. Each conviction carries up to 6-12 years imprisonment, although it has been widely speculated that Uribe may be sentenced to house arrest.
Monday’s ruling sparked mixed reactions across the globe. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio criticized the ruling on X, calling it a “weaponization of Colombia’s judicial branch by radical judges.” Juanita Goebertus Estrada, a former lawmaker in Colombia and current director of the Americas Division for Human Rights Watch, defended the conviction, stating that it “is not a weaponization of justice.”
Uribe is expected to appeal his convictions in a process that will likely reach both Superior Tribunals, “Tribunales Superiores,”and the the Supreme Court of Justice, “Corte Suprema de Justicia.” Uribe may also attempt to leverage a Colombian legal right known as “Acción de Tutela,” which would allow him to challenge the constitutionality of his charges and conviction. As future proceedings will continue to intersect with legal principles like equality under the law and independence of the judiciary, global focus will remain on this case.
