Former President Alvaro Uribe was found guilty of witness tampering on Monday.
A court in Bogota found that Uribe, 73, who led the South American nation from 2002 to 2010, had bribed witnesses to lie for him in a separate investigation into alleged ties to right-wing paramilitary groups responsible for human rights violations.
Judge Sandra Heredia of the 44th Criminal Circuit Court said Uribe had tried to persuade jailed ex-paramilitary Juan Guillermo Monsalve not to testify about the former president’s alleged links to the illegal armed groups.
What else do we know about the case?
Uribe could be sentenced to up to 12 years in prison in the case, which marks the first time an ex-president in Colombia has been found guilty in criminal court.
The case, which has been highly politicized, dates back to 2012, when the conservative ex-leader accused left-wing senator Ivan Cepeda before the Supreme Court of attempting to tie him to right-wing paramilitary groups fighting Marxist rebels in .
Instead of prosecuting Cepeda, the court chose to probe his allegations against Uribe.
The investigation against Uribe began in 2018. A year later, thousands protested in Bogota and Medellin to denounce his indictment.
After several attorney generals had sought to close the case, the probe gained new momentum in 2024 when Luz Camargo was appointed by current president Gustavo Petro — , who was himself a former guerilla and Uribe’s political archrival.
Legacy of Colombia’s armed conflict
The right-wing paramilitary groups emerged during the 1980s to fight left-wing guerrillas engaged in an armed uprising against the Colombian state since the 1960s.
The Marxist rebels were particularly active in rural Colombia, where they pledged to fight poverty and defend marginalized communities.
Fuelled by the lucrative cocaine trade, dozens of rival armed groups sprang up, resulting in a deadly conflict over resources and trafficking routes that is still ongoing today.
Uribe, who served during a particularly violent period of Colombia’s conflict, took a hard line against drug cartels and the left-wing Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
His successor and former political ally, Juan Manuel Santos, , a move that was viewed as a deep betrayal by Uribe, who blamed his father’s death on a botched kidnapping attempt by FARC rebels.
Uribe remains a divisive figure in Colombia and a prominent conservative voice because of his anti-FARC history.
His stance has become more popular in recent months, as more , who has been in office since 2022.
The ex-leader is also being investigated in other cases, including a probe into a 1997 massacre by paramilitaries of subsistence farmers during his term as governor of western Antioquia.
He is also facing a complaint in Argentina — which has universal jurisdiction —stemming from his alleged involvement in more than 6,000 civilian executions and forced disappearances by the Colombian military while he was president.
Uribe has insisted that the proceedings against him are the result of “political vengeance.”
Secretary of State, Republican Marco Rubio, condemned the verdict, saying Uribe’s “only crime has been to tirelessly fight and defend his homeland.”
“The weaponization of Colombia’s judicial branch by radical judges has now set a worrisome precedent,” the American diplomat said on X.
Edited by: Roshni Majumdar
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