AColombian court on Tuesday overturned the conviction against former President Alvaro Uribe on bribery and witness tampering charges.
Uribe, who was Colombia’s president from 2002 to 2010, was sentenced to 12 years of house arrest after being found guilty in August.
Last month, Colombia’s Supreme Court ordered Uribe released from custody pending the hearing of his appeals.
He was the first former Colombian president to be convicted on criminal charges.
Why did the Colombian court acquit Uribe?
The Bogotá High Court said the allegations had not been demonstrated “beyond reasonable doubt”.
Judge Manuel Antonio Merchan said, “It has not been proven, directly or indirectly, that Álvaro Uribe instigated the crime of bribery in the criminal proceedings… Therefore, the Court will overturn the conviction given to Álvaro Uribe Vélez.”
The court concluded that the opening sentence contained “methodological errors, fallacies of interpretation, and biased assessment of the evidence”, and amounted to “conjecture” without “objective support”.
What was the case against Uribe?
In 2012, Uribe accused leftist senator Iván Cepeda of bribing former paramilitary members, who have since been jailed, to link the former president to right-wing groups.
But the Supreme Court rejected Uribe’s charge and instead accused him of pressuring witnesses.
Cepeda has said he will appeal Tuesday’s decision, which would take the case to Colombia’s top court.
Uribe’s time in office was marked by a military campaign against leftist guerrillas and drug cartels.
The paramilitaries were founded by cattlemen, landowners and businessmen to fight leftist guerrilla groups such as the FARC.
He has been accused of killing more than 450,000 people between 1985 and 2018.
Uribe’s allegations have deepened the rift between America and Colombia
Uribe has alleged that the charges were brought against him due to political persecution.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio expressed his support for the embattled former right-wing president, saying the case was an example of “weaponization” by Colombian judges.
In response, leftist President Gustavo Petro called on Washington to respect the independence of Colombia’s judiciary.
It comes amid a widening rift between the two countries, after US President Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs against Colombia over allegations of its involvement in drug trafficking.
Edited by: Jennifer Cimino Gonzalez and Carl Sexton