Former President Uribe claims his trial was "induced by the current government."

Former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe (2002-2010) asserted this Saturday, July 12, that the trial in which he is accused of witness tampering, procedural fraud, and bribery in criminal proceedings was "induced" by the current government.

He expressed this in a video posted on his social media accounts, in which he stated: " We cannot forget that this trial was induced by the current government, by its most representative senator ," referring to the leftist Iván Cepeda, whom he did not name directly.

On July 8, Uribe concluded his final arguments at the trial, in which he reiterated his innocence and asserted that he has always told the truth.

The complaint dates back to 2012, when Uribe sued Senator Cepeda for alleged witness tampering. Cepeda was preparing a complaint against him for alleged links to paramilitaries at the time.

However, the Supreme Court of Justice, far from investigating Cepeda, instead opened a case against Uribe for witness tampering.

Uribe resigned his senatorial seat in August 2020 to remove his immunity and have his case referred to the ordinary courts. The Prosecutor's Office decided there was no evidence to prosecute him.

Therefore, his legal team requested the case be dismissed twice, but this request was denied by both the first-instance courts where it was filed and the Superior Court of Bogotá, until the Prosecutor's Office decided to charge him in 2024.

Last month, the prosecutor in the case, Marlenne Orjuela, requested a conviction, finding that Uribe "conceived, promoted, and supported a strategy aimed at manipulating the course of criminal justice, using third parties with the deliberate goal of forcing key witnesses to depose."

The victims of the trial allege that the former president, with the help of his lawyer Diego Cadena, attempted to bribe imprisoned witnesses to discredit the links to paramilitarism that Cepeda had denounced.

Respectful of justice

Uribe asserted today that he has "an immense political responsibility" in facing trial and that he has done so with " respect for justice ."

Furthermore, the leader of the opposition Democratic Center party recalled that, after two prosecutors made motions for dismissal, another prosecutor appointed by the current Minister of Justice, Eduardo Montealegre, changed everything and charged him.

Montealegre served as Colombia's attorney general from 2012 to 2016, having been nominated by former President Juan Manuel Santos, who governed the country from 2010 to 2018.

" After two motions for dismissal from respected prosecutors, a prosecutor appointed and promoted by the current Minister of Justice, when he served as Santos' attorney general, came to accuse me ," Uribe said.

Uribe also noted that during this process, he was under house arrest for 67 days in 2020.

" Initially, I was imprisoned by a magistrate, a co-worker of Iván Cepeda's wife, a magistrate who was a contractor for the Santos government in the Havana peace process, of which I was an opponent ," Uribe said today.

The judge in the case, Sandra Liliana Heredia, announced last week that she will announce the ruling in Uribe's trial on July 28, a decision that has the country in suspense.

EFE