Overview

• Bogotá’s Superior Court ordered Uribe’s immediate release by nullifying the house-arrest portion of the August 1 decision through a tutela ruling.
• Judges determined Uribe does not present a flight risk, allowing him to remain free while the appellate chamber reviews his case.
• The court must issue a final decision by October 16 or the trial will be annulled, a step that would void the conviction.
• Uribe was convicted on August 1 of bribery in judicial proceedings and procedural fraud for pressuring paramilitary witnesses, receiving a 12-year house-arrest sentence in a first for a former Colombian president.
• The tribunal criticized the lower court’s justification as vague and disproportionate, while Uribe and allies claim political persecution and U.S. politician Marco Rubio denounces alleged judicial “weaponization.”