A Colombian juvenile court has sentenced a 15-year-old boy to seven years in detention for the fatal shooting of presidential candidate Miguel Uribe, who was attacked in June and succumbed to his injuries two months later.
Uribe, a 39-year-old right-wing legislator and opposition figure, was shot in the head while addressing supporters at a campaign rally in a working-class district of Bogotá. Despite multiple surgeries and weeks in intensive care, he died of a cerebral hemorrhage on August 11.
According to prosecutors, the teenager was convicted of attempted murder and illegal possession of firearms, but not homicide. Colombian law bars authorities from modifying charges after they have been accepted by a minor defendant.
He will serve his sentence in a specialized juvenile facility and will not be transferred to an adult prison upon turning 18.
Videos of the June 7 attack captured the moment gunfire erupted, sending the crowd into panic as Uribe collapsed. Security operatives subdued the shooter after he fired three shots, two of which struck Uribe in the head.
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Five adults have since been arrested and charged with aggravated homicide in connection with the assassination. Authorities have also linked the plot to a dissident faction of the demobilized FARC guerrilla movement, which rejected the landmark 2016 peace agreement.
The killing has revived memories of Colombia’s bloody past, when five presidential candidates were assassinated in the latter half of the 20th century. Recent weeks have also seen a resurgence of guerrilla violence, including a truck bombing in Cali that killed six people and a drone strike that downed a police helicopter, killing 13 officers.
President Gustavo Petro’s administration has condemned the attack, blaming splinter armed groups for undermining peace efforts.