By Hugh Bronstein BOGOTA, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Colombian judges rallied around the country's Supreme Court on Wednesday as President Alvaro Uribe seeks to bypass its decision to ban former right-wing paramilitaries from running for political office. The fight between the president and the high court threatens to unravel a peace deal in which 31,000 former paramilitary fighters have turned in their guns in exchange for pardons and the right to hold public positions. Colombia's Attorney General's Office, the Constitutional Court and other legal institutions met on Tuesday to express their support for the Supreme Court. A spokesman for the high court said a statement was expected on Wednesday from the institutions "backing the court in this argument with the president." Last month it decided that demobilized paramilitary fighters must be charged with common crimes like drug trafficking and murder rather than with sedition. The ruling shook the foundation of the peace deal, which promises that many paramilitaries will face only political charges, which can be pardoned, in connection to their 20-year struggle against left-wing rebels. Once pardoned, they would be able to run for political office, an avenue that is closed if they have a serious criminal conviction on their records. If the Supreme Court decision stands, many "paras" have said they will stop cooperating with investigators and halt the turnover of their illegally acquired wealth. Uribe last week accused the high court of "ideological bias" and proposed a law allowing former "paras" the same political rights as demobilized Marxist guerrillas who have won local and national office. The law would apply only to paramilitaries not involved in massacres and other atrocities. URIBE'S POPULARITY SLIPS Uribe's popularity rating has fallen to about 66 percent in recent polls showing he has been bruised by a scandal in which his former security chief and some of his closest allies in Congress are accused of illegally supporting paramilitaries who have grown rich on drug-trafficking and extortion. "An increasing number of well-informed voters are saying they are concerned that Uribe is trying to take too much control of nonexecutive state institutions, like the courts," said Bogota-based pollster Napoleon Franco. The "paras" were formed in the 1980s to help cattle ranchers, drug lords and other rich Colombians fight leftist rebels. They soon started exploiting the country's multibillion-dollar cocaine trade and became notorious for massacring peasants suspected of leftist sympathies. Several former militia fighters say they plan to run in October provincial elections, sparking concern that paramilitaries may not only get away with the crimes they committed, but might end up running parts of the country. Thousands are killed every year in this war involving rebels, paramilitaries and a slew of cocaine smuggling gangs.
