Former President Álvaro Uribe, registered as a prisoner in the Colombian prison system

Álvario Uribe, senator and former Colombian president. Credit: RAUL ARBOLEDA / AFP via Getty Images

(CNN Spanish) - This Wednesday morning, the former president of Colombia, Álvaro Uribe Vélez, notified that the house arrest against him was made effective, and that he was registered with fingerprints as the prisoner 1,087,985 of the Colombian prison system, for order of the Supreme Court of Justice.

When announcing the fact on Twitter, the ex-president requested transparency in his process.

«Today I was reported as prisoner # 1087985 for confronting testimonies against me bought by the FARC, its new generation and its allies. No evidence, just inferences. I was illegally intercepted. Lawyers were prevented from cross-examining his main witness. I ask for transparency ».

Today I was reviewed as prisoner # 1087985 for confronting testimonies against me bought by the FARC, its new generation and its allies.
No evidence, only https://t.co/MmbPdFaYwE They illegally intercepted. They prevented lawyers from cross-examining their main witness. I ask for transparency pic.twitter.com/em6DkBoUXX

- Álvaro Uribe Vélez (@AlvaroUribeVel) August 12, 2020

When consulted by CNN, the Supreme Court of Justice responded that the process against former President Uribe is in the investigation phase and the case is not public. They explain that “in Colombia two judicial systems are operating, an accusatory criminal system, which is public, and another system that is governed by Law 600 of 2000 that governs investigations against congressmen. They are the rules of the game that Congress itself set. This is the system that is investigating Uribe. It has a legal reserve ».

• LOOK: Iván Duque asks Álvaro Uribe to exercise his defense in freedom and says that his detention is "a great imbalance"

Uribe's defense requested that the case be public, however, the Court has not yet responded to this request.

The order of the judicial authority contemplates that the National Penitentiary and Prison Institute of Colombia (INPEC) must make periodic visits to the place where the former head of state is located, at his El Ubérrimo farm, located in the department of Córdoba, in the northeast from the country.

At the moment, the also senator of the Democratic Center party has no restriction on the use of social networks or to make public statements.

• MORE: Camilo: Uribe's Bad Hour

About the case

Álvaro Uribe Vélez is the first former president of Colombia to face a deprivation of his liberty order.

On August 4, the Investigation Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice imposed house arrest on him, accused of bribery and procedural fraud, charges that the former president has always denied.

The measure does not constitute a judgment of the Supreme Court, but rather an action in the middle of the process that Uribe Vélez faces. In a statement, the president of the Special Chamber of the Court confirmed that the decision was made on the grounds that there are risks of obstruction of justice.

It all started in 2014, in a debate in Congress in which left-wing senator Iván Cepeda accused Uribe of being involved in the emergence of paramilitary groups and presented a series of testimonies. A statement that Uribe not only denied, but responded with a lawsuit before the Supreme Court in which he asked to investigate Cepeda for alleged manipulation of witnesses.

During the investigation, the high court exonerated Cepeda and opened a formal process against Uribe for the same allegations.

Alvaro Uribe Velez