The legislator reported that after more than 50 days of intense work, the evidentiary phase has concluded, and that the presentation of defense witnesses was closed. According to him, the defense was not only weak but also poor and contradictory.

Of the 77 testimonies that were ordered to the former president’s legal team during the trial, the defense withdrew from taking 20 of them, and four others, of the 57 summoned to the hearing, exercised their right to remain silent, Cepeda noted.

He noted that of those 57 witnesses, the defense brought 19 people to testify at trial who are being investigated for the same events currently under trial: five of them are on trial; and 14 more are being investigated for crimes such as perjury, witness tampering, and other punishable offenses.

Among those testimonies given or dismissed, the absence of Juan Guillermo Villegas, a central figure in this web of procedural fraud and bribery, he said, stands out.

In addition to being one of those mentioned as the alleged creator and participant in the creation of paramilitary forces on the Guacharacas ranch (which belonged to the Uribe Vélez family), he added, Villegas has been identified in the Supreme Court’s restraining order issued in February 2018 as one of the most active intermediaries in the false witness network.

In the congressman’s opinion, “the silence of attorney Diego Cadena, the main intermediary in the prosecution of false witnesses and who had much to explain during the cross-examination by the Prosecutor’s Office,” was also notable.

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