Former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe committed the crimes of procedural fraud and bribery in criminal proceedings, a judge said during the reading of a verdict in a case that began in 2018.

Mr. Uribe, a towering figure in Colombian politics, was accused of trying to bribe a former paramilitary to retract testimony damaging to him.

A judge on Monday found former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe guilty of abuse of process and bribery of a public official in a years-long witness tampering case, making the right-wing politician the country's first ex-president ever convicted at trial.