Former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe was sentenced on Friday to 12 years of house arrest after being convicted earlier this week for abuse of process and bribery of a public official in a landmark case involving allegations of witness tampering and ties to right-wing paramilitaries.
The sentence, delivered by Judge Sandra Liliana Heredia, also includes a fine of $578,000 and an eight-year ban from holding public office. Uribe, 73, becomes the first former Colombian head of state to be convicted in court, marking a major moment in the country’s political and judicial history.
Uribe’s legal team confirmed they will appeal the conviction. Appearing virtually during the hearing, Uribe insisted on his innocence and accused the court of bias. “In my condition as a convict, because of this ruling, I request very respectfully… an appeal,” he said, calling the process an effort to “destroy a voice for the democratic opposition.”
The ruling follows a 13-year investigation that stemmed from claims by leftist Senator Iván Cepeda, who had collected testimonies from jailed paramilitaries alleging Uribe’s support for their operations while he was governor of Antioquia. Uribe accused Cepeda of fabricating evidence, but Colombia’s Supreme Court found in 2018 that it was Uribe and his associates who had tried to manipulate witnesses.
Key testimony came from two former paramilitaries who said Uribe’s former lawyer, Diego Cadena, offered them money in exchange for favorable statements. Cadena, who denies wrongdoing, is facing separate charges.
The case has sparked sharp political divisions. While critics hailed the conviction as long-overdue accountability for Uribe’s alleged ties to paramilitary violence, his supporters decry it as politically motivated. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio criticized the ruling, calling it “a weaponization of Colombia’s judicial branch by radical judges,” raising concerns it could affect bilateral aid.
People protest against Colombia’s President Alvaro Uribe outside the Paloquemao judicial complex, following his criminal conviction, in Bogota, Colombia, August 1, 2025. REUTERS/Luisa Gonzalez
Uribe, a dominant figure in Colombian politics and leader of the right-wing Democratic Center party, served as president from 2002 to 2010 and later as a senator. He led a major military campaign against leftist guerrillas but faced persistent allegations of links to paramilitary groups, which demobilized under his administration.
According to Colombia’s Truth Commission, paramilitaries were responsible for more than 205,000 deaths, nearly half of all fatalities in the country’s decades-long internal conflict.
Uribe joins a growing list of Latin American leaders convicted of criminal offenses, alongside figures such as Brazil’s Lula da Silva, Argentina’s Cristina Fernández, and Peru’s Alberto Fujimori. Uribe will now remain under house arrest at his residence in Rionegro, Antioquia, while his appeal proceeds.
Written By Rodney Mbua
