A Bogota judge thwarted prosecution an attempt to drop fraud and bribery charges against Colombia’s former President Alvaro Uribe on Tuesday.
The prosecution asked to drop the charges despite compelling evidence suggesting that Uribe tried to manipulate witnesses who had told the court that the former president helped create a paramilitary group in the 1990’s.
Uribe has categorically denied his involvement in terrorism and bribing witnesses to sue Senator Ivan Cepeda on fictitious slander charges.
Cepeda has published multiple books about the former president’s alleged involvement in the creation of the Bloque Metro in his native Antioquia province.
The Supreme Court formally accused Uribe of fraud and bribery when absolving Cepeda in 2018.
In order to make these criminal charges to go away, Uribe resigned from the senate, which transferred the case to the Prosecutor General’s Office.
Subordinates of Prosecutor General Francisco Barbosa, an admirer of Uribe, initially tried to unilaterally drop the charges, but were stopped by the court.
The prosecution subsequently asked a Bogota court to bury the investigation against the former president, which has now also failed.
In a last attempt to avoid calling Uribe to trial, the prosecution announced it would appeal the decision before the Bogota Superior Criminal Court.
No former president has ever been charged with crimes by any prosecutor in the history of Colombia.
