Álvaro Uribe: key figures and witnesses in the former president’s trial for bribery – courts – justice

When the process against Álvaro Uribe Vélez For alleged witness bribery and procedural fraud, it was in the hands of the Supreme Court; the Supreme Court included in its list of declarants about 42 people whose version it wanted to hear.

That list shows the number of people who have heard, learned of, or may be related to one of the most controversial lawsuits.

(Lea: Uribe case: deadline for the prosecution to decide whether to sue)

These are the main characters mentioned in the process:

Alvaro Uribe Velez

The former Democratic Center senator and former president of Colombia has been under investigation since 2018, when the Supreme Court opened formal proceedings against him for alleged witness bribery and procedural fraud. The trial was opened because Uribe had supposedly – through third parties – visited former paramilitaries in prisons, offered them gifts or benefits in exchange for them to declare that he had never had any ties with the self-defense forces and to appoint the senator. Ivan Cepeda to make up testimonies against him.

Uribe’s defense has said it is not true that he pressured witnesses, that he never offered money or benefits in exchange for statements, that the court never offered guarantees – he even spoke of prosecution against him – because according to him they did he counts no witnesses in his favor and they too have unlawfully intercepted him.

Ivan Cepeda

The senator, who was recognized as a victim in Uribe’s trial, assures Uribe is the one who sought witnesses to delegitimize him and get them to drop the charges linking him to paramilitarism. In contrast, Uribe’s defense says it is he who has sought paramilitaries in the prisons to offer them benefits in exchange for their testimony against the former president.

Juan Guillermo Monsalve

The former paramilitary, who grew up on the ‘Guacharacas’ farm owned by the Uribe Vélez family and has pointed out to his family that they have been promoting the self-defense forces in Antioquia, told the Supreme Court that the former president’s lawyer Diego necklace He pressured him to change his version and involve Iván Cepeda in tampering with witnesses.

According to Uribe’s defense, Monsalve was never in the Auc, nor was he admitted to Justice and Peace. Proof of this, Uribe’s lawyers say, is that he must pay a 40-year sentence for crimes committed in a gang in 2006-08. The defense also assures that he is a false witness, that he has interests, and that it was Monsalve who sought to recant them.

(Lea: Prosecution tells the witness in the Uribe case that it is his duty to testify).

After the Uribe case left the hands of the Court and went to the Attorney General’s office, Monsalve refused to testify before the accusing body, which quoted him several times, saying he would only do so if there were is an accusation or trial. against Uribe.

Monsalve’s lawyers assure that the prosecutor’s office wants to “lock him up,” that they want to open legal proceedings as if he were the one under investigation, and that they are trying to justify an exclusion in favor of the former president. On the other hand, Uribe’s defense assures that if he does not go to the prosecution, it is because it is clear that he is lying and that he would not stand an interrogation.

Carlos Enrique Velez Ramirez

The former paramilitaries, held in Tramacúa prison in Valledupar, although he had been requested by Uribe’s defense, told the court that attorney Diego Cadena had made him several payments, one of them for 2 million pesos. Subsequent payments of 40 million pesos for his family were known, money that according to Cadena was humanitarian aid. Uribe’s defense confirms that the senator was unaware of these money transfers.

Diego necklace

E.The lawyer, who defended Uribe’s interests and was a past lawyer for drug traffickers, said that giving money to Carlos Enrique Vélez was a humanitarian act because he had a sick relative. The prosecution accused him in 2020 of offering 200 million pesos to Vélez and legal advice to Juan Guillermo Monsalve in exchange for declaring in Uribe’s favor. Recently, Iván Cepeda’s lawyer said he would sue Cadena for new crimes related to other alleged acts of bribery and procedural fraud, but in the ongoing case against the former president’s brother, Santiago Uribe. According to Uribe’s defense, Cadena’s work was limited to verifying the information coming to Uribe through civilians in order to send it to court (Read: Diego Cadena, lawyer for former President Uribe, will still be detained).

Pablo Hernán Sierra

The former head of the Cacique Pipintá front of the self-defense forces has appointed Uribe and his brother Santiago as the creators of the metro block of the self-defense forces in Antioquia. Uribe’s defense has repeatedly convicted him of insult and slander, stating that he is a false witness. Uribe’s lawyers assure that the former president has not been to Guacharacas farm since 1983 and deny that the Metro block originated on that farm. Last year, in April, the Supreme Court ruled out brothers Álvaro and Santiago Uribe’s complaint against Sierra for the offense of defamation, as the time limit to reach a decision on their case had been exceeded.

Hilda Child Farfán

The former Justice and Peace prosecutor, who applied for a place in the JEP, was arrested in June 2017 for preferring former paramilitaries and drug traffickers in exchange for awards. According to Uribe’s file, Niño was offered gabelas in return for discrediting the investigation against Santiago Uribe. In July 2018, the prosecution had said in a hearing that Eduardo Montealegre’s prosecution had developed a plan to obfuscate the Uribe Vélez.

In August last year, the Supreme Court sentenced her to 5 years for being a prosecutor and peace prosecutor who had received gifts from drug traffickers Miguel Ángel Melchor Mejía Múnera, ‘el Mellizo’, and from Orlando Villa Zapata, in exchange for being allowed. benefited from the law on Justice and Peace. Last December, the Supreme Court granted him parole.

Enrique Pardo Hasche

Convicted of kidnapping, inmate in La Picota who supposedly helped Uribe’s lawyers reach Juan Guillermo Monsalve, who was his cellmate.

The former president’s defense assures that it was Monsalve who sent them a message through Pardo that he wanted to meet with Uribe’s lawyers to rectify his allegations. The defense alleges that Cadena visited Monsalve, who had hidden tape recorders to manipulate the content of the meeting.

Mary Mercedes Williamson

She was summoned for entering La Picota prison with Jaime Lombana, Uribe’s lawyer, on February 22, 2018 to meet Enrique Pardo Hasche, Williamson’s brother-in-law. The woman told the court that she went to prison with attorney Lombana, not because they wanted to speak to Juan Guillermo Monsalve or put pressure on a testimony, but because they wanted to visit Enrique Pardo only to discuss Pardo’s legal situation and his health. .

Eurydice Cortés Velasco

The former political chief of the Auc assured that Diego Cadena had given her 700,000 pesos as a travel allowance for her to seek out paramilitaries who would testify in favor of the former president. Uribe’s defense argues that there are interceptions overheard of Carlos Enrique Vélez calling her supposedly in a threatening tone to condition her statement with financial requests to Uribe’s lawyers.

Mercedes Arroyave Ardila

The 71-year-old lawyer appears to be accompanying Iván Cepeda to various prisons around the country to speak with paramilitaries. She was also a lawyer for Juan Guillermo Monsalve and Pablo Hernán Sierra. Although she was cited in the past by the Supreme Court and now by the Attorney General, her testimony was not accessible. According to Uribe’s defense, she could account for Cepeda’s alleged attempts to distort witnesses against Uribe.

Juan Carlos ‘Tuso’ Sierra:

The former paramilitary, who paid his sentence in the United States and is free in that country, is a defense witness. Sierra sent a letter to the Court saying he had been visited by a committee made up of Piedad Córdoba, Rodrigo Lara and Iván Cepeda in 2009 to testify against Uribe.

Eduardo Montealegre

While the former Attorney General never appeared as a party to Álvaro Uribe’s trial while in the hands of the Supreme Court, Montealegre attended hearings asking to be linked as an alleged victim.

The reason is that both Montealegre and his former deputy prosecutor Jorge Perdomo assure that Niño said during the trial that they had tried to make a mounting against Uribe, statements they qualify as false.

JUSTICE
Twitter: @JusticiaET