Colombia's former President Uribe petitions Supreme Court to lift house arrest after conviction

Colombia’s former president Alvaro Uribe, the country’s first previous leader to be convicted of a crime, petitioned the Supreme Court on Monday for his release while appealing his sentence of 12 years house jail.

Uribe’s conviction and punishment last Friday marked the end of his long career as one of Colombia’s most contentious politicians.

The 73-year-old, who is still popular and powerful among conservatives, conducted a rigorous military battle against drug traffickers and the FARC rebel group as president from 2002 to 2010.

Uribe was found guilty of tampering with witnesses in a separate inquiry investigating his suspected involvement with right-wing paramilitaries responsible for atrocities while fighting leftist guerrillas.

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He was also found guilty of impeding justice.

At his sentencing the trial court judge declared him to be a flight risk and ordered him to be placed under house arrest at his home in the town of Rionegro, near Colombia’s second city of Medellin.

Uribe’s lawyers petitioned the Supreme Court on Monday to set him free, assuring he had no intention of leaving his homeland.

A law-and-order hardliner, Uribe was a close ally of the United States and retains ties to the American right.

He claims his conviction is a political witch hunt by the administration of left-wing President Gustavo Petro.

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He has until August 13 to appeal his conviction.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has decried the case against Uribe, saying it represented “the weaponization of Colombia’s judicial branch by radical judges.”