Former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe was indicted on Friday in a long-running investigation into witness tampering.
Uribe has been formally indicted on charges of witness tampering and bribery for allegedly trying to discredit a political opponent who was investigating his family’s ties to right-wing paramilitary groups. If convicted, he faces up to 12 years in prison.
The case dates back to 2012, when Uribe filed a defamation lawsuit against leftist lawmaker Iván Cepeda in the Supreme Court. In 2018, the Supreme Court, the only institution authorized to investigate lawmakers, closed its investigation into Cepeda and, in a shocking change of course, announced it was opening a new investigation into Uribe, then a senator, for alleged fraud and testimony manipulation.
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President Uribe, who ruled Colombia from 2002 to 2010 with strong U.S. backing, has denied any wrongdoing and accused Colombia’s prosecutor’s office of “political vendetta.”
In the wiretapped phone conversations, Uribe is heard discussing efforts to turn around two former paramilitary fighters who were set to testify against him. Uribe said the conversations were illegally intercepted.
FILE – Former President Alvaro Uribe speaks at a press conference at the Democratic Center party headquarters in Bogota, Colombia, June 29, 2022. On Friday, May 24, 2024, Uribe was formally indicted on charges of witness tampering and bribery for allegedly trying to discredit a political opponent who was investigating his family’s ties to right-wing paramilitary groups. (AP Photo/Lina Gasca, File)
The drawn-out legal battle is taking place against a polarized political backdrop in the South American country, intensified by the 2022 election of former leftist opposition leader Gustavo Petro, a critic of Uribe.
No political leader in Colombia’s recent history has had as much influence as Mr. Uribe, who still has a large following. In 2016, he led a “No” movement that voted against a peace deal with leftist rebels, but the government later adopted a slightly revised version.
Alleged ties to drug cartels and paramilitary groups have dogged him since the early 1980s, when the Civil Aviation Authority he then headed was accused of granting flying licenses to drug traffickers. A decade later, declassified State Department cables showed that U.S. officials had told the rising politician he had ties to drug cartels.
The media attention and intense emotions surrounding the case have complicated the work of Colombia’s justice system, which has struggled throughout history to hold prominent political and military leaders accountable.
Before Petro took office, Colombian prosecutors had twice tried to close the witness tampering case, saying they hadn’t found evidence to prove criminal responsibility for Uribe. But those requests were rejected by judges, and after Petro appointed a new attorney general in April, prosecutors changed tack and announced they would take the case to trial.
Friday’s hearing was held by video conference, with Uribe’s role limited, leaving most of the discussion to his lawyers.
Chief prosecutor Gilberto Iván Villarreal said the former president “abused his prominent position in society” and betrayed witnesses into speaking out against Cepeda.
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Uribe was briefly placed under pretrial house arrest by order of the Supreme Court in 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic, but was released shortly after resigning from his senate, a move that prompted judicial authorities to transfer the case from the Supreme Court to the prosecutor’s office.
