Colombia Charges Ex-president Uribe With Witness Tampering

Bogotá, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 10th Apr, 2024) Colombia's prosecutors announced Tuesday they would try influential ex-president Alvaro Uribe for alleged witness tampering in what will be the first trial of a former head of state in the country's history.

Uribe, who was president between 2002 and 2010, is accused of interfering with witnesses during an investigation into his potential links with right-wing paramilitary groups.

In a statement, the prosecutor's office said an indictment had been filed against Uribe, 71, for "the crimes of bribery of witnesses and procedural fraud," without specifying when his trial would begin.

The charges against him are punishable by up to eight years of imprisonment.

The investigation dates to 2012, when Uribe, then a senator, filed a complaint against leftist senator Ivan Cepeda, whom he accused of hatching a plot to falsely link him to right-wing paramilitary groups involved in the country's long-standing, myriad armed conflicts.

But the Supreme Court decided against investigating Cepeda, instead turning its sights on Uribe, accusing him of tampering with witnesses to discredit his opponent.

He has always maintained his innocence, and argues he only contacted witnesses -- jailed paramilitaries -- to get them to tell the truth about his involvement with the brutal far-right squads that formed to combat leftist guerrilla groups but became involved in drug trafficking and atrocities.

The conservative politician was placed under house arrest in 2020, but released two months later as the investigation continued.

The prosecution said it had received "new elements of evidence" such as a statement from jailed former militia fighter Juan Guillermo Monsalve, who claims to have received messages sent from Uribe asking for him to change his testimony.