A court on Tuesday ordered the release of Alvaro Uribe, pictured here as president of Colombia in 2009, who has been under house arrest since he was convicted of a slew of crimes earlier this month. File Photo by Kristoffer Tripplaar/UPI | License Photo
Aug. 20 (UPI) -- A Colombia appeals court has ordered the release of former President Alvro Uribe from house arrest as he challenges his historic bribery and fraud conviction.
Uribe was sentenced by the 44th Criminal Court of the Circuit of Bogota on Aug. 1 to 12 years of house arrest after being convicted of charges connected to financial, legal and administrative offers made to former paramilitary fighters to testify against a political opponent.
Uribe is appealing the conviction, and on Tuesday, the Superior Tribunal agreed with his defense lawyers who were seeking his release from house arrest on the grounds their client's due process rights were violated.
"Thanks be to God, thanks to so many compatriots for their expressions of solidarity," Uribe wrote on X late Tuesday.
