2024-09-04 21:09:31
The request comes just days after the courts refused, for the fifth time, to close the investigation.
Former President Alvaro Uribe’s lawyer, Jaime Granados, has requested the postponement of the preliminary hearing, initially scheduled for September 6, in the midst of the judicial process that the former president faces for bribery and witness tampering. The request comes a few days after the court rejected, for the fifth time, the closing of the investigation.
Granados justified his request by citing Uribe’s age and the exhausting itinerary that the former president will face, who has a flight from Paraguay with stopovers totaling almost eight hours, with an estimated arrival in Colombia at 8:25 a.m. on the same day of the hearing. According to the lawyer, Uribe needs to rest properly before facing the demands of the judicial process. Although the request was initially rejected, Granados insisted that due process and the dignity of the accused were not being respected.
On August 27, the Superior Court of Bogotá denied a motion for annulment filed by the defense, which sought to close the case. The motion was based on the claim that the 44th criminal circuit judge of Bogotá had erred by rejecting the motion for annulment outright. The defense argued that this decision was contradictory, since the legislature allows the filing of annulments in this type of scenario. It also argued that the rights of the victims and the defendant should not limit due process.
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He rejected the decision
Granados, who led the defense, also claimed that the first instance decision had violated Uribe’s fundamental rights to due process and defense, pointing out the imprecision in the indictment and the deficiencies in the formulation of charges. However, the Court rejected these arguments, confirming that no fundamental rights had been violated.
This process, which began in 2018, originated from an investigation against Senator Iván Cepeda, based on testimonies from former paramilitaries that linked Uribe to armed groups. As witnesses retracted their statements and evidence of pressure emerged, the Supreme Court closed the investigation against Cepeda and opened one against Uribe.
The case was transferred to the Prosecutor’s Office after Uribe’s resignation from Congress. Despite several attempts by the Prosecutor’s Office to close the case, requests for dismissal have been repeatedly rejected. At the latest hearing, in addition to charges of procedural fraud and bribery in criminal proceedings, it was announced that Uribe will also face an investigation for bribery related to convicted former prosecutor Hilda Niño.
The judicial outlook for the former president remains uncertain, with a series of appeals and decisions keeping the process open and under constant public scrutiny.
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