When the process against Álvaro Uribe Vélez for alleged bribery of witnesses and procedural fraud was in the hands of the Supreme Court of Justice, the high court included in its list of declarants about 42 people of whom he sought to hear his version.
This list shows the number of people who have sounded, had knowledge, or who could be related to one of the most controversial court cases.
(Read: Uribe case: the deadline for the Prosecutor’s Office to decide whether to sue)
These are the main characters that have been mentioned in the process:
Álvaro Uribe Vélez
The former senator of the Democratic Center and former president of Colombia has been under investigation since 2018, when the Supreme Court of Justice opened a formal trial against him for alleged bribery of witnesses and procedural fraud. The process was opened because allegedly – through third parties – Uribe had sought ex-paramilitaries in prisons, offering gifts or benefits in exchange for declaring that he had never had links with the Self-Defense and pointing to the senator Iván Cepeda of being manufacturer witnesses against him.
Uribe’s defense has said it is not true that he has pressured witnesses, that he never offered money or benefits in exchange for statements, that the court never offered him guarantees – he even spoke of prosecution against him. -, because according to him they did not take into account witnesses in their favor and in addition they intercepted it of illegal form.
Iván Cepeda
The senator, who was recognized as a victim in the trial against Uribe, says that Uribe is the one who has sought witnesses to delegitimize and to retract the allegations in which he is associated with paramilitarism. Uribe’s defense, on the other hand, says he is the one who has sought out paramilitaries in prisons to offer them benefits in return for testifying against the former president.
Cepeda says that even in the most difficult moments he has not considered leaving his activities.
Juan Manuel Vargas / EL TEMPS
Juan Guillermo Monsalve
The ex-military man, who grew up on the Uribe Vélez-owned ‘guacharacas’ estate and has pointed out to his family that he had promoted self-defense in Antioquia, told the Supreme Court that the former president’s lawyer Diego Cadena he was pressuring him to change his version and involve Iván Cepeda in witness manipulation.
According to Uribe’s defense, Monsalve was never in the Auc nor was he admitted to Justice and Peace. Proof of this, say Uribe’s lawyers, is that he pays a 40-year prison sentence for crimes committed in a gang in 2006-2008. The defense also claims that it is a false witness, that he has interests and that it was Monsalve who sought them out to retract.
(Read: Prosecution tells witness in case Uribe that his duty is to testify).
After the Uribe case came out of the hands of the Court and passed to the Attorney General, Monsalve refused to testify before the prosecution, which has cited him on several occasions, and said he would only do so if there is an indictment or trial against Uribe.
Monsalve’s lawyers say the prosecution wants to set a “trap” for him, that they want to open a lawsuit against him as if he were the one under investigation, and that they are trying to justify a foreclosure in favor of the former president. On the other hand, Uribe’s defense says that if he does not go to the Prosecutor’s Office it is because it is clear that he is lying and that he would not be able to withstand an interrogation.
Carlos Enrique Vélez Ramírez
The paramilitary Carlos Enrique Vélez, is known with the nickname of commander Victor.
The ex-military man, detained in the Tramacúa prison in Valledupar, although he had been asked by Uribe’s defense, told the Court that the lawyer Diego Cadena made several payments to him, one of them for 2 million pesos . Then there were payments of 40 million pesos for his family, money that according to Cadena was humanitarian aid. Uribe’s defense claims the senator was unaware of these money transfers.
Diego Cadena
EThe lawyer, who defended Uribe’s interests, and who in the past was a drug lawyer, said that if he gave money to Carlos Enrique Vélez it was like a humanitarian act because he had a sick relative. The Public Prosecutor’s Office charged him in 2020 with offering 200 million pesos to Vélez and legal advice to Juan Guillermo Monsalve, in exchange for them declaring in favor of Uribe. Recently Iván Cepeda’s lawyer said he would report Cadena for new crimes, related to other alleged acts of bribery and procedural fraud but in the case that is being pursued against the former president’s brother, Santiago Uribe. According to Uribe’s defense, Cadena’s work was limited to verifying the information that reached Uribe through the public, to send it to the Court. (Read: Diego Chain, lawyer for former President Uribe, will remain in custody).
Diego Cadena, former representative of Uribe, prosecuted for alleged bribery of witnesses and procedural fraud.
Pablo Hernán Serra
The former head of the Cacic Pipintá front of the Self-Defense Forces has pointed out to Uribe and his brother Santiago that they are the creators of the Metro Block of the Self-Defense Forces in Antioquia. Uribe’s defense has repeatedly denounced him for insult and slander claiming that it is a false witness. Uribe’s lawyers say that the former president has not been on the guacharacas estate since 1983 and deny that the Metro Block has been created on this estate. Last year, in April, the Supreme Court of Justice precluded the complaint of the brothers Álvaro and Santiago Uribe against Serra for the crime of slander as the maximum time to make a decision if it was the case was exceeded.
Hilda Nen Farfán
The former Justice and Peace prosecutor, who called for a contingent in the JEP, had been arrested in June 2017 for favoring ex-paramilitaries and drug traffickers in exchange for donations. According to the Uribe case file, Nen was allegedly offered bail in exchange for discrediting the investigation against Santiago Uribe. In July 2018, the prosecutor had said in a hearing that allegedly from the Prosecutor’s Office of Eduardo Montealegre a plan had been devised to muddy the Uribe Vélez.
In August last year the Supreme Court of Justice sentenced her to 5 years for being a prosecutor of Justice and Peace had received gifts from the narcos Miguel Ángel Melchor Mejía Múnera, ‘Twin’, and Orlando Vila Zapata, in change to allow them to benefit from the Justice and Peace Act. In December last year the high court allowed him parole.
Former prosecutor Hilda Nen handed over illegal conduct information to several officials.
courtesy Colprensa
Enrique Pardo Hasche
Convicted of kidnapping, taken to La Picota, who allegedly helped Uribe’s lawyers reach Juan Guillermo Monsalve, who was his cellmate.
The defense of the former president says it was Monsalve who through Pardo sent them the message that they wanted to meet with Uribe’s lawyers to rectify their remarks. The defense claims Cadena visited Monsalve, who had hidden recorders to manipulate the contents of the meeting.
Mary Mercedes Williamson
She was mentioned because on February 22, 2018, she and Jaime Lombana, Uribe’s lawyer, entered La Picota prison to meet with Enrique Pardo Hasche, Williamson’s brother-in-law. The woman told the Court that she went to jail with the Lombana lawyer, not because they wanted to talk to Juan Guillermo Monsalve or to press any witnesses, but because they exclusively wanted to visit Enrique Pardo to talk about Pardo’s legal situation. and their health.
Eurydice Cortés Velasco
The political excap of the Auc claimed that Diego Cadena gave her 700,000 pesos as per diems for her to look for paramilitaries to testify in favor of the former president. Uribe’s defense argues that there are interceptions in which Carlos Enrique Vélez is allegedly heard calling in a threatening tone to condition his statement with financial requests to Uribe’s lawyers.
Mercedes Arroyave Ardila
The 71-year-old lawyer appears accompanying Iván Cepeda to various country prisons to speak with paramilitaries. Also she was lawyer of Juan Guillermo Monsalve and Pau Hernán Serra. Although in the past she was summoned by the Supreme Court of Justice and now by the Attorney General’s Office, her testimony could not be accessed. According to Uribe’s defense, she could account for Cepeda’s alleged attempts to twist witnesses against Uribe.
Mercedes Arroyave, key lawyer in the investigation against Álvaro Uribe.
Joan Carles ‘Tuso’ Serra:
The ex-military man, who paid a penalty in the United States and is free in that country, is witnessing the defense. Serra sent a letter to the Court in which he said that in 2009 he received a visit from a commission made up of Piedad Córdoba, Rodrigo Lara and Iván Cepeda to testify against Uribe.
Joan Carles el ‘Tuso’ Serra.
Eduardo Montealegre
Although the former Attorney General never appeared as a party in Alvaro Uribe’s trial when he was in the hands of the Supreme Court, on leaving the sphere of the judicial corporation and moving to the Prosecutor’s Office, Montealegre has attended hearings asking to be linked as an alleged victim.
Former prosecutor Eduardo Montealegre.
Photo:
The reason is that both Montealegre and his former deputy prosecutor Jorge Perdomo say that Nen said in the process that they had sought to make a montage against Uribe, statements that they describe as false.
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