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What you should know about the investigation of the former president of Colombia Álvaro Uribe before the Supreme Court

2019-10-08T13:08:20.028Z


The Supreme Court of Colombia will listen to Alvaro Uribe on Tuesday. The former president of Colombia and now a senator for the Democratic Center party is accused of tampering with testi ...


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(CNN Spanish) - A complainant who ended up being denounced.

This could summarize the origin of the current criminal proceedings faced by former President Álvaro Uribe in the Supreme Court of Colombia, accused of tampering with witnesses.

The former president Uribe, of the official Democratic Center, denounced judicially Senator Iván Cepeda, of the opposition Democratic Pole, by assuring that he offered legal benefits to several prisoner exparamilitaries to link him with those armed groups of the extreme right.

The main witness in the case against Uribe is the former Juan Guillermo Monsalve ex-prison currently in jail, who told Cepeda in this interview, recorded by the senator in 2013, that the “Guacharacas” farm, owned by the Uribe family, is I would have formed a paramilitary group. Monsalve's family worked on that farm and that is why he claimed to know the facts first hand.

The video was part of a debate at the congress promoted by Cepeda against the paramilitaries in Colombia and their sponsors.

Uribe denied the accusations, both in the legislative debate and in subsequent pronouncements.

He decided to take the case to court and denounce Cepeda for the serious accusations. He argued that Monsalve and other witnesses had been manipulated and pressured. Through his lawyers Monsalve denied having received any kind of legal or economic benefits from Cepeda for his statements.

But the magistrates not only did not find enough elements to exonerate Cepeda, but they decided to investigate Uribe after finding those they consider new evidence and testimonies that would involve the former president in the same practices he accused of Senator Cepeda.

“I had 21,000 telephone interceptions, calls and messages. There is no word of mine that violates the law, ”Uribe said on September 4.

These statements are among the few granted by the former plaintiff on the process he faces in the supreme court of justice.

“There are many witnesses who have said they manipulated them against me. That they went to offer them benefits and that is what is now in process. The court is calling them all. Now he is doing what the court should have done before calling me for investigation, ”he added at the time.

Senator Iván Cepeda has preferred not to comment further and asked to respect the independence of the magistrates.

"In order to avoid any action that could be interpreted as intentionally directed to disturb or constrict the counterpart, despite having the right to do so, we will not attend the investigation proceedings," he said this week.

Since this Sunday there have been several manifestations of support for Uribe.

There have also been rejections, by sectors that believe that the ex-president must answer for this and for other 59 criminal and political processes that he faces before this Court and before the accusation commission of the Congress.

The charges range from injury and slander to concert to commit crimes and vote buying.

Uribe insists that it is a political persecution.

After listening to Uribe's disclaimers, in a private session on Tuesday, Judge César Reyes will evaluate the voluminous judicial file to decide, with his colleagues in the courtroom of the court, whether to call the now senator or file the case.

Álvaro UribeParamilitares

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2019-10-08

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