A Colombian court on Tuesday overturned the witness tampering conviction of influential ex-president Alvaro Uribe, who had been sentenced to 12 years’ house arrest in a decision condemned by the United States.

The 73-year-old, who led a relentless military campaign against drug cartels and leftist guerrillas as president from 2002 to 2010, was found guilty in August of asking right-wing paramilitaries to lie about their alleged links to him.

It marked the first time in Colombia’s history that a former president was convicted of a crime and sentenced.

A law-and-order hardliner, Uribe was a close ally of the United States and retains close ties to the American right.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had slammed his conviction as “the weaponization of Colombia’s judicial branch by radica

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