BOGOTÁ, Colombia -- Álvaro Uribe, one of the most influential and controversial leaders in Colombian history, was found guilty of bribery in criminal proceedings as well as procedural fraud on Monday in a witness tampering scandal, becoming the country's first former president to be convicted in a criminal trial.

The 73-year-old former president, who led Colombia from 2002 to 2010, was credited with turning the tide of his country's 52-year civil war against leftist insurgents, and he continued to wield power as a senator and politician long after leaving office. But critics have long accused Uribe of ties to the country's right-wing paramilitary groups, which he has consistently denied.

In 2012, he accused a fellow senator, Iván Cepeda, of bribing witnesses in a conspiracy to connect Ur

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