A Bogota court ordered the "immediate" release of former president Alvaro Uribe, while it resolves his appeal of the historic sentence of 12 years of house arrest for bribery and procedural fraud.

The popular former president (2002-2010) received the maximum possible sentence in the first instance for trying to bribe paramilitaries to remove him from these violent anti-guerrilla squads.

Since August 1, the 73-year-old politician has been detained at his home in the municipality of Rionegro, about 30 kilometers from his native Medellin.

Uribe appealed the court's decision, which made him the first former president of the country to be criminally convicted and deprived of his liberty.

According to the former president, the trial was politicized and under pressure from the left, currently in power under President Gustavo Petro.

With this decision, the Superior Court of Bogota gave the green light for Uribe to appeal while he was free. But this second instance only has until October 16 to ratify the sentence or overturn it and acquit him. If he exceeds that date, the case will be archived.

After learning of the ruling, Uribe stated that “every minute of my freedom I will dedicate to the freedom of Colombia,” he stated on his X account.

It all began in 2012 when Uribe denounced leftist senator Ivan Cepeda for an alleged plot to link him to paramilitaries.

Cepeda had mentioned in Congress the accusations from imprisoned former paramilitaries who accused Uribe of founding an anti-guerrilla squad on his family’s farm.

Unexpected turn in the case

In 2018, the case took an unexpected turn: the Supreme Court began to investigate Uribe for manipulating witnesses to discredit Cepeda.

Cepeda assured that he respects the decision but does not share it. "We are fully certain that the convicted former president has been carrying out numerous actions to pressure the justice system and campaigns against us.And we believe that the measure imposed by Judge (Sandra) Heredia was in some way a measure to protect us from that type of action,” he told the press.

Uribe came to power when Colombia was burning from the confrontation between left-wing guerrillas, far-right squads and state forces.

He amassed support with his iron fist policies, which defeated the then FARC guerrilla group.

But even as the perception of security improved, his government was questioned for thousands of murders committed by the military during the fight against the rebels.

More than 6,000 “false positives” have been documented, as the case of civilians executed and dressed as guerrillas to inflate combat results and receive rewards is known.

Of the eight million victims left by the armed conflict at that time - between displaced, dead and wounded -, 40% were recorded during his mandate.