BOGOTA (Reuters) -A Colombian judge on Monday convicted former President Alvaro Uribe of abuse of process and bribery of a public official in a long-running witness tampering case, making him the country's first ex-president to ever be found guilty at trial.

The influential and controversial Uribe was found guilty in a witness tampering case and is the country’s first former president to be convicted in a criminal trial.

Mr. Uribe, a towering figure in Colombian politics, was accused of trying to bribe a former paramilitary to retract testimony damaging to him.