Former President Uribe sentenced to 12 years of house arrest in Colombia

In a decision announced on Monday in Colombia, the sentence for former President Alvaro Uribe, who was convicted of witness manipulation, fraud, and bribery, has been determined.

Judge Sandra Heredia sentenced Uribe to 12 years of house arrest and imposed a fine of 3.4 billion Colombian pesos (approximately 840 thousand US dollars).

Uribe will surrender to authorities in Rionegro, in the Antioquia region where he resides, and his house arrest will begin thereafter.

The document containing the conviction was published in local media just hours before the hearing where the sentence was to be read in court. According to the document, Uribe has been banned from holding public office for more than 8 years.

Uribe's legal team announced that they will appeal the decision.

FOUND GUILTY ON MONDAY

Former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe had long been accused of having ties to paramilitary groups. In 2012, left-wing Senator Ivan Cepeda collected witness testimonies suggesting that Uribe had links to former paramilitaries. These witnesses claimed that Uribe supported paramilitary groups.

In response, Uribe filed a defamation lawsuit against Cepeda, claiming that he had manipulated witnesses through money or threats; however, the Supreme Court ruled 6 years later that Cepeda had not paid or pressured the witnesses.

The court stated that Uribe and his allies had pressured witnesses, and Cepeda was accepted as a victim in the case. Uribe was found guilty at the hearing held on Monday.