Former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has been sentenced to 12 years of house arrest following his conviction for witness-tampering and bribery, according to local media reports.The sentencing hearing on Friday also resulted in Uribe, 73, receiving a fine of $578,000 and a ban from serving in public office for 100 months and 20 days — or just over eight years.He is now required to report to authorities in Rionegro, in his home province of Antioquia. Afterwards, Judge Sandra Liliana Heredia has ordered him to “proceed immediately to his residence where he will comply with house arrest”.With his conviction on July 28, Uribe has become the first former Colombian president to be found guilty in a criminal trial.But Uribe’s defence lawyers have already announced that they plan to appeal.The sentencing culminates a six-month trial and nearly 13 years of legal back-and-forth for the popular conservative leader, who is considered one of the defining forces in modern-day Colombian politics.His house arrest also comes less than a year before Colombia is set to hold presidential elections in May 2026. A person holds a banner that reads ‘Uribe to jail’ in Bogota, Colombia, on July 28 [Luisa Gonzalez/Reuters]Allegations of human rights abusesThe case centres around Uribe’s role in Colombia’s more than six-decade-long internal conflict, which has seen government forces, right-wing paramilitaries, left-wing rebel groups and drug-trafficking networks all fighting for control over parts of the country. Advertisemen …
