Former President Álvaro Uribe took on his own defense at the hearing where the judge read him his sentence. The former president described the decision as political and asserted that the bias was evident. But one of the central points of his argument was the defense of his family.
"I must inform you and the competent authorities that my children have been treated with disrespect," the former president began."And my wife and children, throughout this process, have not made a single disrespectful comment about the person who presided over it, the judge. I, neither in the trial nor on my social media, where I am very active, have said or written anything disrespectful to the judge," he said.
The former president angrily recounted what the judge had said about his family: "She tried to say that my children had leaked the sentence. It's a process, not leaks. Since it began in the Supreme Court of Justice. And then they get the news that their father has been convicted. He has tried to set a good example for them for 12 years. Of course, they worry. But the judge also didn't verify where that information came from. Here we heard her say that she had been informed by the Paloquemao press. I think there has been a lack of more investigation here than I'm going to complain about, which is one of the reasons why politics has predominated over the right to condemn."
Uribe said that since midday, many journalists had been calling him to ask for his reaction to the sentence that had condemned him to 12 years.
"This treatment of my family is a lack of integrity, without pausing to examine the integrity and prudence of my wife, who accompanied me to court with complete loyalty to justice... My wife was there accompanying me. And she did so with the prudence that characterizes her," he said of Lina Moreno.
He also expressed other sentiments about his children. “My children are critical of the government. They are critical of the use of justice to play politics, but they have been respectful of the judge, as I have been. To say that my family has lacked courage, that my children have lacked courage, is a very serious accusation... That is an accusation that calls for violent action against my children.”
The former president was specifically referring to a statement made by Judge Heredia at the beginning of the hearing."I understand that some of the defendant's children, who didn't have the courage to accompany him here when he came to appear, but did make publications against the undersigned..."
But I don't accept that he messes with my family," the former president claimed from the beginning.
The former president complained about the way he was treated during the criminal proceedings."There was no respect for us here. At times, there were controls, but here there was no respect for my defense or for me. I understand my status as the accused and now the convicted, but the fact is that, even though we convicted people have every opportunity to have our human rights protected, here they treated us like r****," he said.
The former president referred to the conversation he had with Diego Cadena, which is the most notorious piece of evidence in the case. During that call, he said,"Proceed, Dr. Diego." According to the former president, when he spoke with Cadena, 39 days had already passed since the conversation Cadena had had with Juan Guillermo Monsalve. He asserted that this remark had occurred in the midst of the spontaneous nature he always displays when speaking on the phone."It's proven that no one ever asked to lie or remain silent."
"There is no legal reason to convict me on the grounds that I authorized payments from Dr. Cadena. He made those payments autonomously... Dr. Cadena told me nothing about the payments," he explained.
The former president asserted that the ruling weighed more on political than legal grounds and that it was clearly designed to silence the voice of the democratic opposition.
