Colombia will learn on Tuesday whether influential former president Alvaro Uribe must serve 12 years under house arrest for allegedly pressuring paramilitaries to deny ties with him.

A judge in August handed the 73-year-old the maximum sentence for bribery and procedural fraud, in a case that made him the first ex-president in the country’s history to be convicted.

According to the initial ruling, the right-wing leader coerced jailed paramilitaries to distance him from their organization.

The paramilitary group had been behind massacres, disappearances and other atrocities during Colombia’s long and brutal armed conflict.

Uribe remains popular for his hardline offensive against guerrillas during two consecutive terms in office.

However, authorities documented serious human rights viol

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