Facts
Between 2002 and 2008, an internal armed conflict pitted the Colombian armed forces against leftist guerrillas. During this period, state agents, in particular members of the national army, executed and enforced the disappearances of at least 6’402 civilians and other persons protected under international humanitarian law. Victims were mostly young men from modest backgrounds who were lured with promises of work and then executed by soldiers. They were later dressed in guerrilla fatigues or/and had weapons placed in their hands, and were illegitimately presented as combatants of the leftist guerillas killed during fighting. These crimes were committed with the aim of boosting statistics and creating the impression that the army was winning the war.
These crimes, publicly known as “false positives” were committed in 31 of Colombia’s 32 departments, by all army divisions, with the same modus operandi. They allegedly involved a wide range of members of the armed forces, including the lower, middle and high command.
Uribe was elected president of the Republic of Colombia from 2002 to 2010. As the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, he is suspected of having had knowledge of the criminal practice of false positives, but having failed to prevent, investigate or punish those crimes. He also allegedly dismissed numerous complaints that were filed against these crimes and continued to pressure his troops to report significant numbers of kills in combat, despite reportedly knowing that the victims were civilians.
The Jurisdicción Especial para la Paz (Special Jurisdiction for Peace), a transitional tribunal established in 2017 to judge crimes committed during the internal armed conflict, has so far indicted a total of 99 members of the Colombian armed forces, including eight generals, for war crimes and the crimes against humanity of murder and enforced disappearance. It does not, however, have jurisdiction over former presidents.
A preliminary examination of the situation in Colombia by the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) focused on false positive crimes since 2012. However, the examination was closed in 2021 after a cooperation agreement was reached with the Colombian government.
Procedure
On 7 November 2023, 11 victims and three Colombian non-governmental organizations – the Comité de Solidaridad con los Presos Políticos, the Colectivo de Abogados José Alvear Restrepo and the Corporación Jurídica Libertad – filed a complaint against the former Colombian president for war crimes and crimes against humanity before the Argentinian prosecuting authorities.
The case was assigned to an investigating judge of Federal Court N°2, who, on 9 November 2023 asked the International Criminal Court to share with the Argentinian authorities’ information on any investigations into the crimes denounced.
On 19 December 2023, the prosecutor assigned to the case announced the opening of an investigation and requested several additional acts of mutual assistance from Colombia.
In June 2024, the investigative judge received a response from the ICC stating that it had no active proceedings against Uribe.
On 1 July 2024, the investigative judge granted standing as civil parties to the 11 Colombian victims and the three Colombian organizations, CSPP, CAJAR and CJL. As civil parties, they can participate in the proceedings, request evidence, and request an indictment if the prosecution does not do so. To date, no testimonies have been heard by the Argentinian authorities.
In October 2025, the Argentina’s Federal Court No. 2 ordered the case to be dismissed. An appeal against this decision was filed by the complainants.