"The Bogota High Court said that the charges had not been demonstrated "beyond reasonable doubt." "It was not proven directly or indirectly that Alvaro Uribe instigated the crime of bribery in criminal proceedings ... therefore, the Court will overturn the sentence imposed on Alvaro Uribe Velez," Judge Manuel Antonio Merchan said. The court concluded that the initial sentence had "methodological errors, fallacies of interpretation and biased evaluation of evidence," adding it had amounted to "inferences" without "objective support.""
"Uribe's time in office was marked by a broad military campaign against left-wing guerillas and drug cartels. He had been accused of having bribed members of right-wing paramilitaries to lie about his alleged links to the groups during investigations into his role. The paramilitaries were founded by cattle ranchers, landowners and merchants to fight leftist guerilla groups such as the FARC. They have been accused of killing over 450,000 between 1985 and 2018."
Alvaro Uribe was acquitted of bribery in criminal proceedings by the Bogota High Court, which held the charges were not proven beyond reasonable doubt. Uribe had been convicted in August of witness tampering and procedural fraud and sentenced to 12 years of house arrest; the appeal against the procedural fraud charge remains pending. The court identified methodological errors, fallacies of interpretation and biased evaluation of evidence in the initial sentence, characterizing parts of the ruling as inferences without objective support. Colombia's Supreme Court ordered Uribe's release from detention last month while appeals proceed. Uribe's presidency featured a major military campaign against leftist guerrillas and drug cartels, and he faced accusations of bribing members of right-wing paramilitaries, groups that have been linked to large-scale killings between 1985 and 2018.
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