Court rejects house arrest for Colombia ex-president Uribe during appeal
Uribe was placed on house arrest this month by Judge Sandra Liliana Heredia, who sentenced him to 12 years in a long-running case about his connections to former right-wing paramilitaries.
Uribe has always maintained his innocence and is appealing the convictions, which he and his supporters have characterized as political persecution.
The court said it has ruled "to leave without effect" the order for house arrest "until the corresponding criminal court of this tribunal defines the recourse of appeal."
The conviction made Uribe the country's first ex-president to ever be found guilty at trial and came less than a year before Colombia's 2026 presidential election, in which several of Uribe's allies and proteges are competing for top office.
Detractors of Uribe, 73, have celebrated his conviction as deserved comeuppance for a man who has been accused for decades of close ties with violent right-wing paramilitaries.
Uribe, who was president from 2002 to 2010 and oversaw a military offensive against leftist guerrillas, was charged over allegations he ordered a lawyer to bribe jailed paramilitaries to discredit claims he had ties to their organizations.
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The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
How towering dominance of Bolivia's socialist party came tumbling down
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After nearly 20 years of Mas government, the party's presidential candidate won just 3.16% of the vote in Sunday's election – only a whisker above the 3% threshold set by the electoral court for a party to remain eligible. Bolivia now faces a runoff vote in October between two rightwing candidates:the senator Rodrigo Paz Pereira and former president Jorge 'Tuto' Quiroga, Meanwhile, after winning two-thirds of Congress in past elections, preliminary estimates suggest Mas will now have only one member of the lower house and no senators. 'I voted for Mas in the past, but this time I chose the right,' said Ronnyxh Oliver Mamani Figueredo, 34, an Aymara carpenter and pharmacy owner who has a seven-storey, Knights of the Zodiac-themed cholet that cost more than $1m. 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Reuters
2 hours ago
- Reuters
Exclusive: Bolivia's Quiroga would grant resource ownership rights, eyes US trade
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The Independent
13 hours ago
- The Independent
Colombian court frees former president Uribe from house arrest until it rules on bribery case
A Colombian appeals court ruled Tuesday that former president Alvaro Uribe must be released from house arrest while he challenges his conviction for bribery and witness tampering. On Aug. 1, the conservative leader was sentenced to 12 years of house arrest for threatening and trying to flip witnesses who had spoken to investigators about his alleged role in the formation of a right wing paramilitary group in the 1990s. Uribe denies the charges and has appealed the conviction to the Superior Tribunal in Bogota. The court has until mid-October to issue a definitive ruling on the case, which has gripped Colombia and also provoked reactions from Uribe's allies in the United States. On Tuesday the Superior Tribunal said it approved an injunction filed by Uribe's defense team seeking his release from house arrest. Uribe's lawyers argued the former president's right to due process was violated by the arrest order against him, as well as his right to a presumption of innocence.
