Santiago Uribe, brother of ex-president and current senator Álvaro Uribe
Santiago Uribe, brother of former president Álvaro Uribe, is being held in Medellín on charges of aggravated murder and conspiracy
The rancher is accused of playing a leading role in paramilitary group ‘The 12 Apostles’, that operated in Antioquia in the 1990s. The group is accused of being responsible for hundreds of deaths in the region.
Uribe was taken at lunchtime today, Monday February 29.
The prosecution ordered his capture due to the seriousness of the crimes under investigation, and now has 180 days to analyse the case and decide whether it will go to trial.
The defence claim his innocence, saying that he is being persecuted because of his relation to the former president, and accuse the witnesses of perjury.
Álvaro Uribe is currently in the US as part of a lecture tour, but will fly back to Colombia today.
This is not the first time that these accusations have been made. The case was originally dropped in 1999 due to lack of evidence, but reopened in 2012 after retired police chief Juan Carlos Meneses testified about Uribe’s involvement.
