Colombian court orders house arrest for ex-president Uribe

BOGOTA - Colombia's former President Alvaro Uribe on Tuesday announced that the Supreme Court of Justice has ordered house arrest for him on charges of fraud, bribery and corruption.

"The deprivation of my freedom causes me deep sadness because of my wife, my family and the Colombians who still believe that I have done some good for the homeland," Uribe, the first Colombian former president with an arrest warrant and an incumbent senator, wrote on Twitter.

The warrant came in the wake of investigation against Uribe after he accused Senator Ivan Cepeda in 2012 of witness tampering when Cepeda researched Uribe's connections to paramilitary groups.

Uribe sued Cepeda, but the case turned against him when the Supreme Court of Justice decided to investigate him instead.

Colombian President Ivan Duque, a member of political party Centro Democratico founded by Uribe, has expressed full confidence in Uribe's innocence.

Centro Democratico has announced that it will hold a meeting to analyze the situation and deliver a statement.

Uribe served as a two-term president of the South American country from 2002 to 2010.