Bogota (AFP) – Former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe tested positive for coronavirus a day before the Supreme Court put him under space arrest, he announced his policy on Wednesday.
Uribe “in good health” despite his diagnosis, the Democratic Center party told the AFP.
The court, which held a hearing Tuesday on the fees for falscing witnesses, ordered the 68-year-old to be placed under space arrest after ruling that there were “possible risks” that he would verify to obstruct justice.
Local media had speculated about his physical condition after a medical team entered his home in the northern branch of Cordoba.
Uribe, a recent senator, faces charges of corruption and procedural fraud and can serve up to 8 years in prison if he is convicted of accusations that he used his position as a legislator to falsify a witness.
He has insisted on his innocence and enjoys strong popular help due to his strong stance in combating the country’s left-wing guerrillas, especially Colombia’s former powerful Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC).
News of his space arrest took rival protesters to the streets of Uribe and opposed him.
The right-wing politician questioned through judges in October 2019, the first time a former president made the impression before Colombia’s highest court.
In 2012, Uribe filed an opposition to left-wing Senator Iván Cepeda, who Uribe said planned a plot to mistakenly link him to paramilitary groups.
But in 2018, the court opened an investigation into tampering with witnesses opposed to Uribe, who was president from 2002 to 2010.