SAEDNEWS: Former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe was sentenced on Friday to 12 years of house arrest after being found guilty of procedural fraud and witness bribery.
Uribe had pleaded not guilty. His defense attorney previously announced that they would file an appeal.
Judge Sandra Heredia of Bogotá’s 44th Criminal Court announced the sentence four days after she found the former president guilty of the crimes. Heredia had acquitted Uribe of another charge for alleged bribery of a prosecutor, CNN reported.
Uribe, 73, who governed Colombia from 2002 to 2010, is the country’s first former president to be criminally convicted.
The case began in 2012, when Uribe, of the now-opposition Centro Democrático party, accused Senator Iván Cepeda, of the ruling Historic Pact, of trying to link him to the creation of a paramilitary group. Cepeda has denied the accusations.
The situation took a turn in 2018, when the Colombian Supreme Court decided to open an investigation against Uribe for alleged witness tampering.
