Álvaro Uribe wins plea to Iván Cepeda

The Supreme Court of Justice denied guardianship filed by the senator of the Historical Pact Iván Cepeda, to formally call the former president to trial Alvaro Uribe Velezfor alleged witness tampering.

The High Court declared this request inadmissible, so the call to trial of the former president, will depend entirely on the Prosecutor’s Office. The defenses of Uribe and Cepeda will be notified in the next few hours of this decision.

With this protection, Cepeda sought to obtain a document of accusation against former President Uribe, for the case of the crimes of procedural fraud and bribery of witnesses, in the midst of the well-known case of manipulation of former paramilitaries to make them testify falsely against Cepeda.

The case began in 2012 when Uribe sued Cepeda for alleged witness manipulation, who at that time was preparing a complaint in Congress against him for alleged links with paramilitarism.

However, the Supreme Court of Justice decided not to open an investigation against the congressman and, instead, initiated proceedings against the former president for witness tampering.

In August 2020, Uribe resigned from his seat as senator of the party. Democratic Center to stop being barred and for his case to move from the Supreme Court to the ordinary justice system.

With this change, the process was left in the hands of the Prosecutor’s Office – accused of being close to Uribism – which decided that there was no evidence to judicially prosecute the former president.