Former Colombian former President Ovalvaro Uribe has been sentenced to 12 -year -old house arrest for allegations of witness molestation and fraud.
The 73 -year -old is the first former President in the history of the country to be convicted of crime. He has also been stopped from a public office and fined $ 578,000 (£ 435,000).
Uribe, who maintains his innocence, told a judge in Bogota that he would appeal against his convict. He said that the case was to “destroy a voice for the democratic opposition”.
He was the President from 2002-2010 and is popular in Colombia despite being accused of working with rightist paramilitary people to destroy leftist rebel groups. A claim he denies.
The former president was convicted On Monday, in two allegations, a witness-tramping case which lasted for about 13 years.
The two jail-priests gave evidence that former Urbe’s former lawyer Diego Cadeena had offered him money to testify in favor of Uribe.
Cadeena, who is facing allegations, has denied and testified the allegations, as well as many other former-earlritory, Uribe.
Earlier this week, US State Secretary Marco Rubio condemned Uribe’s sentence accusing Columbia’s judiciary of being armed.
Rubio, social media site, X.
The paramilitary groups emerged in the 1980s with a declared target of poverty and marginalized in Colombia. He fought the Marxist-inspired guerrilla groups who were struggling with the kingdom two decades ago.
Many of the armed groups that developed in deadlock, created an income from cocaine trade. The fatal fight with him and the state has produced permanent rivalry for smuggling routes and resources.
Washington was praised for the Left FARC for his hard-line approach to the rebels-but was a divisive politician who says critics say that the country had very little to deal with inequality and poverty.
FARC signed a peace agreement with Uribe’s successor in 2016, although the violence from unarmed groups persists in Colombia.
