Colombia investigates Álvaro Uribe for involvement with a paramilitary group

The Colombian Attorney General's office has opened an investigation against former president Álvaro Uribe for crimes linked to the creation of a paramilitary group, two massacres and the murder of a human rights defender, according to a source and a post by Uribe on social media this Thursday (18).

Uribe, 73 years old, was president of Colombia for two consecutive terms, between 2002 and 2010.

Uribe was convicted last year of fraud and bribery in a long legal saga over alleged obstruction of justice, which could have resulted in 12 years of house arrest. The decision was overturned on appeal, but is now under review by the country's Supreme Court.

Left-wing senator Iván Cepeda, who is running in the second round of the presidential elections this Sunday (21), is considered a victim in the case of obstruction of justice.

Uribe was the first former president of Colombia to be criminally convicted, although he always maintained his innocence, classifying the case as political persecution.

The case revolves around allegations that he ordered a lawyer to bribe arrested paramilitaries to discredit allegations that he had links to these organizations.

The paramilitaries, financed by cattle ranchers, landowners and traders to protect themselves from leftist guerrillas, are considered responsible for almost half of the more than 450,000 deaths that occurred in the Colombian conflict between 1985 and 2018, according to estimates by a truth commission.

Last year, Uribe's brother was convicted of crimes linked to paramilitaries and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

A source from the Attorney General's Office informed Reuters that Uribe was subpoenaed to testify as part of the new investigation and that the date has not yet been defined.

"This is a clear case of political pressure and injustice," said Uribe, alleging links between Cepeda and the prosecutor who subpoenaed him, and asserting that his lawyers cited four known sites of massacres and paramilitary violence about which he will be questioned.

Colombians will go to the polls on Sunday to elect their next president in a second round that will pit Cepeda against right-wing lawyer Abelardo De La Espriella, who has the support of Uribe and has promised a firm stance against rebel groups.

Source: CNN