Former President Alvaro Uribe had been convicted of bribing witnesses to lie for him in a probe into his ties to far-right paramilitaries.
A Colombian court on Tuesday overturned convictions against former President Alvaro Uribe.
Uribe, who served as Colombia’s president from 2002 to 2010, was sentenced to 12 years of house arrest after being found guilty in August for bribery and witness tampering.
Last month, Colombia’s Supreme Court ordered Uribe’s release from detention until his appeals were heard.
He was the first former Colombian president to be convicted of criminal charges.
Why did the Colombian court acquit Uribe?
The Bogota High Court said that the charges had not been demonstrated “beyond reasonable doubt.”
“It was not proven directly or indirectly that Alvaro Uribe instigated the crime of bribery in criminal proceedings … therefore, the Court will overturn the sentence imposed on Alvaro Uribe Velez,” Judge Manuel Antonio Merchan said.
The court concluded that the initial sentence had “methodological errors, fallacies of interpretation and biased evaluation of evidence,” adding it had amounted to “inferences” without “objective support.”
What was the case against Uribe?
In 2012, Uribe accused leftist senator Ivan Cepeda of bribing former paramilitary members, who have since been jailed, to tie the ex-president to the right-wing groups.
But the Supreme Court rejected Uribe’s allegation and instead accused him of having pressured witnesses.
Cepeda has said he would appeal Tuesday’s ruling, which will take the case to Colombia’s top court.
Uribe’s time in office was marked by a military campaign against left-wing guerillas and drug cartels.
The paramilitaries were founded by cattle ranchers, landowners and merchants to fight leftist guerilla groups such as the FARC.
They have been accused of killing over 450,000 between 1985 and 2018.
Uribe charges deepen US-Colombia rift
Uribe has alleged that the charges were born out of political persecution against him.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed his support for the embattled former right-wing president, saying that the case was an example of “weaponization” by Colombian judges.
In response, left-wing President Gustavo Petro called for Washington to respect the independence of Colombia’s judiciary.
It comes amid a broader rift between the two countries, with US President Donald Trump threatening tariffs against Colombia over accusations of involvement of drug trafficking.
Edited by: Jenipher Camino Gonzalez and Karl Sexton
DW News
