Colombia ex-President Uribe will face trial, attorney general's office says

Colombian prosecutors will take ex-President Alvaro Uribe to trial in a witness tampering and fraud case, the attorney general's office said on Tuesday, saying it has presented a written accusation against the former head of state to the Supreme Court.

Colombian prosecutors will take ex-President Alvaro Uribe to trial in a witness tampering and fraud case, the attorney general's office said on Tuesday, saying it has presented a written accusation against the former head of state to the Supreme Court. Uribe and several allies have been investigated over allegations of witness tampering carried out in an attempt to discredit accusations he had ties to right-wing paramilitaries.

Uribe has always maintained his innocence. The development is the latest update in a long-running legal battle where the Superior Court of Bogota most recently ruled in October against shelving the case, following a request by a prosecutor.

Once the administrative arm of a court has cleared the documents, "the hearing for the formalization of charges will take place, on the date and at the time fixed by the court," a statement from the prosecutors' office said. Both those accused in the case and those classed as victims will have their right to due process respected, it added.

"We trust in democratic institutions and call for ex-president Uribe's due process under the law and the constitution to be respected," Uribe's Democratic Center party said in a statement later on Tuesday, adding Uribe is innocent. Uribe's legal team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Last month Luz Adriana Camargo was appointed the new attorney general, following weeks of political tensions over delays to replace the outgoing Francisco Barbosa.

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