VenEconomy: The Rottenness of Venezuela’s Justice System Emerges From the Editors of VenEconomy Latin American Herald Tribune October 26, 2015
One of the many ills of the so-called "socialism of the 21st century" in Venezuela is that, without a doubt, has the justice system at the service of that communist political project.
Faithful to the motto "Socialist Homeland or Death!," the judges of the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) publicly revealed several years ago that they were not at the service of the Constitution, or the laws, or the State, or the people of Venezuela. A very similar allegiance has proved to have the Prosecutor General’s Office in all its proceedings.
This was unquestionably true long before 2012, when former TSJ judge Eladio Aponte Aponte revealed before a U.S. court the state of corruption, degradation, and castration of the judicial system in Venezuela, where nobody can breathe unless the Presidency of the Republic says so. Aponte Aponte is an exceptional witness, not only for having been one of the TSJ judges with more power in the country, but also because of his role as a Judge of the Criminal Chamber that took the most emblematic cases of political persecution in the era of Hugo Chávez such as the "paramilitaries" who allegedly wanted to decapitate Chávez, the police commissioners Iván Simonovis, Lázaro Forero and Henry Vivas, the six Metropolitan Police officers, retired Gen. Francisco Usón, Capt. Otto Gebauer, lawmaker José Mazuco, the Guevara Brothers, among many others.
Among the most condemnatory statements by Aponte Aponte are the meetings held every Friday in the Office of the Vice President of the Republic, with all the top officials of public authorities, in order to give instructions for the week ahead regarding the "legal" course of action to be taken for prosecution files and political judgments.
This reminder comes to the forefront because nothing has changed and everything has become worse in the justice system ever since, as evidenced in the statements by prosecutor Franklin Nieves, one of the public prosecutors in the case of opposition leader Leopoldo López and the students prosecuted and sentenced for the events of February 2014.
It turns out that Nieves, for reasons that have not yet been clarified (and perhaps never will) and seeking protection from the U.S. government, began to make statements over the weekend that the trial of López was based on false evidence, and that he acted under pressure from his superiors. A reality that had been denounced on several occasions by the attorneys of López, NGO human rights defenders and international bodies such as the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which have granted protection measures in favor of López and his family.
These disclosures by Nieves, which include alleged written evidence in the file of López, are just the beginning. Should these materialize, a groundswell of rottenness of the justice delivered by the Bolivarian revolution will emerge, and this will write the black pages of this era of involution in Venezuela.
For the moment, what is imperative according to Venezuelan jurists and lawyers is to restore justice.
Firstly, by voiding the trial and annulling the judgment by Judge Susana Barrientos against López and the students involved. An unconstitutional and rigged trial carried out by Venezuela’s ruling elite without any evidence, blaming López for having used the "art of spoken word."
Secondly, by opening an in-depth investigation that implies the removal from their posts of all officials of the Public Ministry and the court involved in this cause.
The Democratic Unity (MUD) party, the political leadership of the opposition and the democratic civilian sectors have issued statements demanding the annulment of the judgment and the release of both López and the students.
These statements will make a lot of noise unlike those of Aponte Aponte.
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