Uribe Freed from House Arrest in Colombia Witness-Bribery Probe

(Bloomberg) -- Alvaro Uribe, the most powerful leader in Colombia’s recent history, was freed from house arrest while he’s investigated over an alleged conspiracy to bribe jailed gangsters.

A judge in Bogota overturned the measure which had been imposed by the Supreme Court, his Democratic Center Party said in a statement. Uribe had been confined to his estate in north-west Colombia since August.

The former president is accused of employing intermediaries to visit jails and pressure ex-members of illegal militias into changing their testimonies against him and to instead smear opposition senator Ivan Cepeda, one of Uribe’s biggest foes. The case is still ongoing, but Uribe will now be at liberty while he mounts his defense.

Uribe led Colombia from 2002 to 2010, and was noted for taking a hard line against the nation’s Marxist guerrillas. Colombia’s current leader, President Ivan Duque, was handpicked by Uribe.

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