Colombia’s ex-president, Álvaro Uribe, sentenced to 12 years of house arrest
Former Colombian President álvaro Uibe was sentenced to 12 years of house arrest for witness tampering and fraud.
The 73 -year -old is the first former president who was convicted of crime in the history of the country. It was also banned from public office and fined $ 578,000 ($ 435,000).
Uribe, who maintains his innocence, said he would object to a judge in Bogotá. He said the case was “destroying a sound for democratic opposition”.
Between 2002 and 2010 he served as chairmanship and is accused of working with right-wing paramiliter to destroy the leftist rebels, but continues to be popular in Colombia. A claim that he denied.
The former president was convicted In a case that has been going on for nearly 13 years, two charges on Monday.
Two prisons former Paramiliter said that Diego Cadena, former Uibi’s former lawyer Diego Cadena, offered money to testify in favor of Uibe.
In addition, Cadena, who faced the charges, rejected the charges and testified with other former paramilitors on behalf of Uibe.
At the beginning of this week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned Uribe’s conviction and accused Colombia’s judiciary of being armed.
The former president’s “only crime was to fight without getting tired and defend with his homeland”, Rubio on the social media site X.
Paramilitary groups emerged in the 1980s with the goal of poverty and marginalization in Colombia. Twenty years ago, they fought the Marxist -inspired guerrilla groups who fought the state.
Most of the armed groups developing in Standoff earned revenue from cocaine trade. Between them and the state has produced permanent competition for human trafficking routes and resources.
Uibe was praised by Washington for his harsh approach to the left-wing FARC rebels-he became a separatist politician in which critics said that he did little to deal with inequality and poverty in the country.
In 2016, FARC signed a peace agreement with the successor of Uibe, but violence from unarmed groups continues in Colombia.
