BOGOTA, Colombia

Former right-wing Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Velez has been sentenced to 12 years of house arrest in a decision delivered Friday by Judge Sandra Heredia.

Uribe is also disqualified from holding public office for eight years and must pay a fine.

Uribe, 73, received the maximum sentence after being found guilty of witness tampering and procedural fraud.

It marks a historic moment as the first time a former Colombian president has been convicted and sentenced for a crime.

Throughout the process, the former president has consistently maintained his innocence.

Uribe's defense team has announced it will appeal the decision. I

f the Superior Court of Bogota maintains Heredia´s ruling, the case could escalate its appeal to the Supreme Court of Justice, where it began.

The trial originated 13 years ago from a political debate in Congress between Uribe and Sen. Ivan Cepeda of the governing party.

Cepeda insinuated Uribe's alleged links to extreme right-wing paramilitary groups in Colombia. In response, Uribe denounced Cepeda before the Supreme Court of Justice, alleging that the senator irregularly sought testimonies from imprisoned former paramilitaries across the country to link him to the illegal armed groups.

But in 2018, the Supreme Court of Justice found insufficient evidence to proceed against Cepeda and closed his case. I

n the same ruling, the Court ordered an investigation into Uribe for alleged witness tampering to discredit his political adversary. The former leader was effectively accused of manipulating testimony.

In 2020, the Court ordered Uribe's home detention. Before that decision, the former president resigned from his Senate seat, which moved his case to the ordinary justice system.

He was formally charged with bribery, procedural fraud and witness tampering in May 2024. Subsequently, the Colombian Prosecutors' Office attempted to close the case against Uribe, but that petition was denied.

Uribe is the most popular right-wing leader in Colombia, and a decisive figure in next year´s presidential elections.

The case has drawn significant attention from US political figures, who have expressed concerns that Colombia's judicial system is being weaponized against the former president and have even threatened to cut financial aid.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio decried Uribe's prosecution, claiming that it represented "the weaponization of Colombia's judicial branch."