Colombian prosecutors said they will put former President Alvaro Uribe on trial for alleged crimes related to bribery of witnesses in criminal proceedings and fraud, making him the first former president to stand trial in that country. , reported the Associated Press, quoted by BTA.
The announcement represents a change in the course of the criminal trial against Uribe since the arrival of a new attorney general in March. Under the previous administration, prosecutors twice tried to drop the case after failing to find "criminal liability on the part of the accused". However, these requests were rejected by the judges.
The prosecutor's office is expected to formalize the indictment against Uribe at a future hearing, the date of which has not yet been determined.
Uribe faces criminal proceedings after more than a decade ago he publicly stated that an opposition senator allegedly sought out paramilitaries to testify against him and link him to the creation of a paramilitary group.
That senator was not prosecuted, and instead the high court opened a criminal case against Uribe to investigate whether he was the one who tried to tamper with witnesses against his opponent.
Uribe, who was president from 2002 to 2010, was under house arrest over the case for two months in 2020. He has always maintained his innocence.