MADRID, 20 (EUROPA PRESS)
Colombian Senator Iván Cepeda, recognized as a victim in the legal proceedings against former President Álvaro Uribe, has expressed his disagreement with the Bogotá Superior Court, which on Tuesday ordered the immediate release of the conservative politician, sentenced to 12 years of house arrest, and has pointed to "pressure" by Uribe on the courts.
"We, the victims in this process, have always respected and abided by judicial decisions. Of course, we respect this one, but we do not share it," she stated from Congress, before assuring that she will take "actions (...) but with all calm and serenity, we respect this decision."
Furthermore, he stated that he is "fully certain that convicted former President Álvaro Uribe has been carrying out numerous actions to pressure the justice system and campaigns against us." In this regard, he lamented the suspension of his house arrest, considering it a measure "to protect us from this type of action."
However, he noted that the court's decision, which revoked the former president's imprisonment "until" it rules on the appeal filed against the first-instance sentence, "does not mean former President Uribe's innocence, nor that the charges have been dismissed." "The process continues, and the rights of the victims and the independence of the judiciary must be guaranteed," he added.
The Bogotá Superior Court justified its decision by considering that the presumption of innocence of the accused prevails and questioning the motivations of Judge Sandra Heredia in imposing house arrest, describing these criteria as "vague, indeterminate and imprecise, such as public perception, exemplary effect, peaceful coexistence and social order, which are inappropriate because the nature of the conduct alleged apparently affected specific individuals, not the social conglomerate in the abstract."
In addition to the now revoked house arrest, the former president has been sentenced to a further eight years' suspension from office and ordered to pay a fine of more than 3.444 billion pesos, equivalent to 2,420 minimum wages (approximately 720,700 euros).
The judge considers that the 73-year-old former president, who has consistently denied the facts and claimed to be the victim of political persecution, instigated emissaries to manipulate witnesses in the country's prisons in order to benefit himself with their testimony. According to the investigation, lawyer Diego Cadena allegedly attempted to offer benefits to several former paramilitaries to change their story about alleged ties between the former president and his brother, Santiago Uribe, and paramilitaries.
The case began in 2012, when Uribe filed a complaint against Senator Iván Cepeda, claiming that the latter had toured the country's prisons to present false testimony against him about the rise of paramilitarism in the Antioquia region.
However, after the evidence was presented, several versions indicated that the former president's lawyers were trying to manipulate witnesses to point the finger at Cepeda, so the latter went from being accused to being a victim, unlike Uribe, the plaintiff, who became a suspect.
