An appellate court in Bogotá, Colombia, overturned a decision to force conservative former President Álvaro Uribe into house arrest even as he appeals a lower court verdict, declaring him a minimal flight risk and his imprisonment a violation of the presumption of innocence.
Uribe, who governed from 2002 to 2010, was found guilty this month on charges of bribery and abuse of procedure, the product of an investigation triggered by Uribe suing leftist Senator Iván Cepeda after uncovering evidence that Cepeda was attempting to bribe criminals to accuse Uribe of working to create paramilitary groups.
Rather than investigate Uribe’s claims, the Colombian courts closed his case against Cepeda and opened a case against him that resulted in the verdict. The court processing that case sentenced Uribe to 12 years under house arrest in early August, but the Colombian legal system allows Uribe the right to appeal. The appellate court addressing the case in Bogotá ruled on Tuesday night that no legitimate reason exists to keep Uribe under house arrest during the appeals process, as the prosecution offered no evidence that he would flee the country.
The ruling to immediately place Uribe under house arrest “did not obey criteria of necessity, appropriateness, proportionality, and reasonability,” the Superior Court of Bogotá ruled on Tuesday, “limiting itself to arguments that were mostly generic, ambiguous, subjective, foreign to procedural reality and/or not proven, prejudiced against the fundamental prerogative of individual liberty.”
The ruling accused the lower court of deciding to imprison Uribe not just on the basis of what the court case against him alleged, but also taking into consideration his status as a prominent conservative politician.
“This type of reasoning disregards the principle of equality before the law and the criterion of proportionality,” the ruling read, “prioritizing generic and symbolic ends over fundamental rights such as the restriction of liberty, which also results disproportionate regarding the presumption of innocence prevailing until the conviction becomes final.”
The original ruling mandated immediate house arrest for Uribe during the appeals process and banned him from holding any public office for 100 months and 20 days, as well as imposing a roughly $840,000 fine. The lower court declared that anything less would create the perception in the public eye that Uribe was being treated too kindly by the legal system due to his status as a former president and could undermine trust in the judicial institution. The court also declared him a flight risk, which the appeals decision rejected given the lack of evidence that Uribe has attempted to seek residency in any other country and remains active in Colombian politics, even throughout the legal process.
Uribe reacted to the news with a brief statement on social media expressing gratitude to God and his supporters.
“Thank God, thank you to so many compatriots for their expressions of solidarity,” he wrote. “Every minute of my freedom I will dedicate to the freedom of Colombia.”
Political experts in the country consider Uribe one of the most successful presidents in the recent history of Colombia, largely due to his administration’s focus on improving relations with the United States and cooperating with the U.S. military to eliminate the threat of communist terrorist groups, particularly the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Uribe went on to serve as a senator following his presidency and is the leader of the Democratic Center, the largest and most prominent conservative party in the country.
Conservatives in Colombia consider Uribe’s legal woes a form of political persecution intended to curb the power of the Colombian right and have accused radical leftist President Gustavo Petro, the first leftist president in Colombia’s history, of presiding over a dramatic expansion of such persecution. In addition to legal challenges, Democratic Center politicians have faced a surge in violence from Marxist terror groups. The most prominent case of this was the assassination of Miguel Uribe Turbay (no relation), a senator and presidential candidate for the Democratic Center who was leading in 2026 presidential election polls when he was shot by a child in June. Uribe died on August 11 after a prolonged battle for his life in the intensive care unit (ICU).
On the day of Miguel Uribe’s funeral, conservative lawmaker Julio César Triana’s motorcade came under fire by unidentified roving gangsters, an event he managed to film and post online.
Police also uncovered multiple assassination plots against the mayor of Medellín, Federico Gutiérrez, a conservative who lost the 2022 presidential election to Gustavo Petro.
“They attempted to assassinate one of our [presidential] candidates with a bullet to the head, and a month later we are debating whether to imprison President Uribe,” Senator Paloma Valencia of the Democratic Center, who is also running for president, explained to Breitbart News in late July. “Which is to say: what we are starting to see here is that this is not a coincidence and it is all part of like a strategy to destroy the political participation of the followers of President Uribe.”
Conservatives organized massive protests following the initial verdict announcing house arrest for Uribe, attracting thousands of supporters in Colombia’s major cities.
The administration of President Donald Trump and conservatives in American politics have been supportive of Uribe throughout his legal defense. Following the house arrest sentence against the former president, Secretary of State Marco Rubio published a message condemning the “weaponization” of Colombian courts.
“Former Colombian President Uribe’s only crime has been to tirelessly fight and defend his homeland. The weaponization of Colombia’s judicial branch by radical judges has now set a worrisome precedent,” Rubio asserted.
Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) visited Colombia last week for the funeral of Miguel Uribe and met with Álvaro Uribe while under house arrest.
Moreno, who was born in Colombia, described Uribe as a transformational president for the country. In remarks to Breitbart News this week, the senator expressed hope that the 2026 election could help Colombia continue that conservative legacy.
“We gotta make certain that who comes next is somebody strong, not a lightweight, somebody that can present a vision for Colombia that really resonates with its people,” Moreno explained. “But I am hopeful — I am very, very hopeful — that that happens. I think Colombia can have a great, bright future and America will be standing ready there to welcome them to the kind of relationship we had when Uribe was president.”
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