Colombian High Court rejected request for the annulment of the proceedings against Alvaro Uribe

Published at: 27/08/2024 05:15 PM

The Superior Court of Bogotá, Colombia rejected this Tuesday, August 27, the request to declare the proceedings against former president Álvaro Uribe (2002-2010) null and void for the crimes of bribery, witness bribery and procedural fraud.

The court's refusal to suspend the lawsuit ratifies the decision previously taken by Bogotá's criminal judge 44, who previously dismissed the request for annulment made by the former president's defense, the Prensa Latina website reported.

Judge Manuel Antonio Merchán concluded that Uribe's lawyer's argument that procedural errors were incurred was unsupported, so the trial will continue. The genesis of the case dates back to 2012, when the former president denounced Senator Iván Cepeda for allegedly giving benefits to witnesses to point out to him and his family that they had links with the paramilitaries.

After examining the above allegation, the Supreme Court of Justice dismissed the complaint and ruled that it was Uribe who was giving false testimony against Cepeda.

Faced with this situation, in 2020, he was forced to resign his seat as senator to stop being qualified, allowing his case to go to the ordinary courts.

At that time, however, the Prosecutor's Office decided that there was not enough evidence to prosecute him judicially.

However, on January 16, the first prosecutor delegated to the Supreme Court of Justice, Gilberto Villarreal, reopened the case and determined that there was sufficient evidence to charge it.

Taking into account the evidence, the Prosecutor's Office accused the former head of state and considered that he had the conscious, deliberate and systematic support of multiple people, who, to support him, devised evidence to account for partially certain facts or situations that did not correspond to reality.

Mazo News Team