A bailiff of the Caracas Criminal Judicial Circuit was arrested this Saturday because he allegedly charged 12,000 dollars to a prisoner in exchange for getting him full freedom, said sources from the justice system.
Pastor Enrique Padilla Ferrer is the bailiff captured by officers assigned to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations of the Bolivarian National Police (PNB).
Padilla Ferrer’s arrest took place at the facilities of the Palace of Justice in Caracas after being denounced by the lawyer of Francisco Javier Cedeño Morillo, the prisoner who allegedly paid the $12,000, according to the file.
According to the investigations, Sheriff Padilla Ferrer told Cedeño Morillo’s relatives that he had controlled the judge and the secretary of the court where the file was, with which the prisoner’s freedom was guaranteed.
Lawyer Evelgret Ezequiel Díaz Espinosa, who was also captured by the PNB, also participated in this arrangement.
Cedeño Morillo, the prisoner who was promised his freedom for $12,000, is charged with terrorism and arms trafficking, crimes committed by reason of belonging to a Tancol group (Colombian Drug Trafficking Armed Terrorists) that operates in Apure, according to the file. The arrests of the bailiff and the lawyer were agreed by the 4th National Court with Jurisdiction in Cases Related to Crimes Associated with Terrorism by Judge José Macsimino Márquez García.
The situation was followed inch by inch by Lisbeth Hernández, president of the Criminal Judicial Circuit of the Metropolitan Area of Caracas and who ordered a reinforcement of the measures to “guarantee the people free, expeditious and prompt justice,” commented a source from the system.
Hernández has told his work team that the independence of the judges must be preserved in order to provide users with “a transparent job, in accordance with the Constitution and the laws.”
