Judge found Álvaro Uribe Vélez guilty of the crime of bribery in criminal proceedings

Published at: 28/07/2025 05:23 PM

A judge from Colombia found former President Álvaro Uribe Vélez guilty of the crime of bribery in criminal proceedings, in an investigation for witness manipulation, during the historic trial against the former president in the South American country, the Russia Today website reported.

At the hearing of the so-called 'trial of the century', the 44th Criminal Judge of the Bogotá Circuit, Sandra Liliana Heredia, in a first instance decision, considered that the former president and leader of the Democratic Center, through emissaries, offered benefits to people deprived of their liberty with the objective of being favored in other processes that justice is carrying out against him.

Also, for manipulating witnesses to link Senator Iván Cepeda to illegal acts.

This sense of the ruling, as this type of decision that determines the guilt or innocence of the defendant is called, marks a milestone in the history of Colombian justice because it is the first time that a former president could face a conviction after a criminal trial.

The Attorney General's Office accused Uribe in May 2024 of the crimes of bribery, procedural fraud and bribery in criminal proceedings, after Senator Cepeda presented testimonies from former paramilitaries Monsalve and Pablo Hernán Sierra, who claimed to have met with Uribe during his term as governor of the department of Antioquia.

In response, the former president reported Cepeda to the Supreme Court for slander, procedural fraud and abuse of public service.

Later, in 2018, the court found evidence that Uribe had manipulated testimonies to incriminate Cepeda, so in 2020 he was sentenced to house arrest, where he was kept for 67 days. At that time, he was serving as a senator and resigned from office so as not to be tried by the Supreme Court but by the ordinary justice system, through the Public Prosecutor's Office.

Although the prosecutor requested in 2021 the preclusion of the proceedings, in 2022 two judges rejected that request. In 2024, with the arrival of Attorney General Luz Adriana Camargo, that institution called Uribe to trial.

Finally, last year the former president was called to trial, accused of bribing witnesses, procedural fraud, and a new charge of bribery. Since February of this year, the case has been kept under constant prescription.

Heredia, who has been heavily attacked by the media that support Uribe, said at the beginning of the hearing: “Justice is not at the service of the press or politics, it is at the service of the country.”

This statement contrasts with what was expressed by the former president, who has pointed out on several occasions that there is political persecution against him.

During her presentation, the judge validated as evidence of a punishable act the interceptions ordered by the Supreme Court, in 2018, of Senator Nilton Córdoba. However, due to an alleged mistake, Caracol says, they ended up getting on the phone of Diego Cadena, Uribe's lawyer.

“Professional secrecy cannot become a barrier to justice,” said the togada, referring to the appeal made by Uribe's defense, who argued that the conversation belonged to the private sphere.

In those calls, Cadena and Uribe reportedly spoke about alleged plans to get a group of convicted paramilitaries in prison to retract the statements they had made about the alleged relationship between the former president and his brother Santiago Uribe with the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC).

So far, in this long judicial lawsuit of more than a decade, Cepeda was declared a victim in 2024 for the damages caused during the trial and the damage to his integrity as a parliamentarian when he wanted him to relate to criminal acts he did not commit.

The same decision was taken in favor of Deyanira Gómez, who reported persecution and death threats after her collaboration with the Justice, so she left the country with her two children.

According to experts, the ruling could have an important political effect in Colombia, since the image of Uribe — a relevant figure on the country's right wing — has been weakened, which could have an impact on the next elections.