Preclusion Hearing Begins Against Former President Álvaro Uribe

If the preclusion is not accepted, the Prosecutor's Office will have to decide whether to file an accusation or to appeal.

The preclusion hearing against the former president of Colombia, Álvaro Uribe Vélez, for alleged witness tampering and procedural fraud began this Tuesday at 8:00 AM local time.

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In the hearing, the prosecution must support the reasons for precluding the investigation; also, the victims and the Attorney General's Office will be heard. Two points, in particular, support the request for imprisonment: the atypical nature of the investigated act and the absence of involvement of the accused in the investigated act.

Among the victims, Senator Iván Cepeda and former prosecutor Montealegre will be heard. The judge in the case will decide whether or not to endorse the preclusion and, to that extent, the victims could appeal, and the case would be in the hands of the Supreme Court of Bogotá.

If the preclusion is not accepted, the Prosecutor's Office would have to decide whether to file an accusation or to appeal. If so, the case would also remain in the hands of the Bogotá Supreme Court.

In 2012, the former president denounced Senator Cepeda for allegedly receiving money and benefits from paramilitary leaders. This was the genesis of the whole process.

Uribe, who governed Colombia between 2002 and 2010, is being investigated for witness tampering and bribery in a case that dates back to the emergence of paramilitary groups.

"Former President Álvaro Uribe begins hearing in Colombia in the trial for procedural fraud and witness bribery, where the prosecution requests his preclusion."

For his part, the prosecutor in the case, Gabriel Jaimes Durán, requested a month ago a hearing to close the topic on the basis that "after the comprehensive assessment of the material evidence, the physical evidence and the information legally obtained during the course of the process," it was established that "several of the conducts for which the former congressman was legally linked do not have the characteristics of a crime, and others that are, cannot be attributed to him as an author or participant."

Previously, the investigation for procedural fraud and witness tampering was the Supreme Court of Justice's jurisdiction. Still, with Uribe's resignation from his Senate position, the Court lost jurisdiction, and the case went to the ordinary justice system.

Six months after the Prosecutor's Office was in charge of the case, the person in charge decided to request the preclusion, which unleashed an immense debate of opposing positions. The prosecutor pointed out that he acted based on the material analyzed and collected so far.

The 28th circuit judge Carmen Helena Ortiz will be in charge of approving or denying this Tuesday the request for preclusion of the Prosecutor's Office.