MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Venezuelan NGO claims political prisoners risk never-ending trials

None of the prisons that host the defendants is near the court handling the case, the NGO pointed out

According to a Venezuelan Non-Government Organization, 13 inmates deemed to be political prisoners, have been transferred from the Ramo Verde detention center to regular jailhouses for ordinary criminals, which allegedly jeopardizes the judicial review of these cases.

Justicia Venezolana Director Lilia Camejo Monday explained these transfers were arbitrary since no judge had authorized them. Camejo also said the inmates' relatives and lawyers were never told of the measures.

Camejo also specified that, of the 13 detainees, 4 were taken to the Rodeo II prison, 3 to Rodeo III and the other 6 to Yare III.

The NGO also pointed out these inmates were the ones who allegedly assaulted a military base on August 6, 2017, known as Fort Paramacay, in the state of Carabobo.

After the incident, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said it had been a “terrorist attack” and called for extreme security measures in military facilities nationwide.

Justicia Venezolana said that the suspects' trial had began at the Criminal Judicial Circuit of Carabobo, but the distribution of the prisoners in at least five different and distant prisons may lead to the “interruption” of the proceedings.

“With this distribution of the defendants in this case, it is very difficult to see that there will be adequate coordination regarding transfers to the courthouse for the continuation of the trial,” Camejo said.

She also explained the trial began in May last year in military courts, but later shifted to ordinary judges following the the reform of the Organic Code of Military Justice (COJM) by the National Assembly (AN, Parliament), due to which the whole process needed to start from scratch.

“The Paramacay case, which began with a procedural delay of two years, was affected by the legal reform of the COJM of 2021, which delayed the process even further and now faces the possibility that the trial will be interrupted by the decision to transfer defendants to different prisons, and none located in the vicinity of the trial court that is handling the case,” the NGO underlined.