The lawyer Jaime Granados, defender of Álvaro Uribe Vélez, will present an appeal to the conviction.
The former president’s case Álvaro Uribesentenced in the first instance to twelve years in prison in house prison for the Crimes of procedural fraud and bribery in criminal actionis far from ending the appeal of the sentence that its defense will present this month.
Uribe, who ruled Colombia between 2002 and 2010 and is one of the most influential politicians in the country, was found guilty of trying to manipulate witnesses so that they did not declare against them in a case related to their alleged links with paramilitarism.
ANDThe lawyer Jaime GranadosMain defender of Uribe, confirmed the same Friday, reading day of the sentence, which will present the appeal. The Court has a term until October 16 to confirm, modify or revoke the sentence issued by Judge Sandra Heredia, of the 44th Criminal Court of the Circuit of Bogotá.
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“I consider that the Superior Court of Bogotá will have the ability to prioritize this judicial process that is fundamental to all, because here we are facing a conviction in the first instance, but this is not over, the debate continues,” said lawyer Miguel Ángel del Río, which represents the victims, in a channel that opened on YouTube to analyze the case.
Del Río added that it will be said court, where three magistrates will examine the case, which will establish “if the decision by Judge 44 or if it is revoked.”
This lunes begin to count the seven business days that the judge granted to the defense to present the appeal to her ruling, which has caused a debate in the country for the forcefulness of the sentence, which in addition to the twelve years in jail for Uribe includes a fine of more than 3.4 billion Colombian pesos (about 822,000 dollars) and disables it for more than eight years for the exercise of public functions.
The initial period of five days for the appeal was to end on August 11, taking into account that on August 7 it is a holiday in Colombia, but Granados asked the judge for five more days, given the extensive of the ruling, of 1,114 pages, and Heredia only granted him two claiming that the defender knows the case very well.
“The defender (…) knows this process perfectly because we remember that it was himself who, exercising the representation of Mr. Álvaro Uribe Vélez, formulated the complaint before the Supreme Court of Justice, if I am not bad, in February 2012, which is the birth of legal life and everything that led to this process after this process,” the judge argued.
The case by which Uribe was sentenced, 73 years old and right -wing party leader Democratic Centerhe began in 2012 when he denounced before the Supreme Court of Justice For alleged manipulation of witnesses to the leftist congressman Iván Cepeda, who at that time prepared a complaint in the Senate against him for his alleged links with the paramilitaries.
However, the magistrate José Luis Barceló, That he received the lawsuit, he decided not to investigate Cepeda and yes to Uribe for alleged manipulation of witnesses so they would not declare against him.
“After the appeal comes the transfer to the non -recurring, in this case we are the Prosecutor’s Office and representation of victims (which will not appeal the sentence of first instance) and the process will finally be for the Superior Court of Bogotá, which will have to make a decision until before October 16 of the year 2025,” said Del Río.
On that date he prescribes the criminal action of this case and “we are very close to that event,” added the lawyer of the victims, who insisted that in the second instance “there may be a confirmation or there may be a partial revocation of some aspects in relation to the decision.”
The hope of Uribismo
The followers of Uribe, who defend their innocence by cape and sword, deposit in the second instance ruling their hopes of a 180 degree turn in the sentence, with the argument that the judges are also wrong.
“For that there are appeals. The institutionality must be willing to understand that yes, that the judges can make mistakes and that it is susceptible Paloma Valencia, of the Democratic Center.
In case the Superior Court of Bogotá Modify in something the sentence can be filed for the appeal before the Supreme Court of Justice, instance to closed the case in a definitive way, which, according to experts, could last years. EFE
