Aug. 1 (UPI) -- Former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe Vélez was sentenced Friday to 12 years of house arrest for bribery in criminal proceedings and procedural fraud.
Uribe also was ordered to pay a fine equivalent to $820,000 and was barred from holding public office for more than eight years.
Judge Sandra Liliana Heredia found Uribe guilty Thursday of those crimes and issued a historic ruling against him, making him the first former Colombian president to be criminally convicted in the country's modern judicial history.
The ruling has polarized the country. While Uribe's supporters denounce it as "political persecution," many victims of human rights violations say it finally sets a precedent for justice.
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