Mariana González, daughter of opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutiaconfirmed this Wednesday that authorities sentenced her husband, Rafael Tudares, to 30 years in prison after what she describes as a “single and unique” trial hearing.
“The trial against Rafael would have taken place in a single trial hearing, on Friday, November 28, 2025, which would have lasted more than 12 hours,” González said in a statement published in X.
According to the wife, the authorities notified Tudares of the sentence last Monday via electronic means, while keeping access to the case file completely closed.
“The authorities have confirmed to me that neither I nor my lawyer can access the case file, nor know the number of that file in the trial phase, as in fact they have prevented us from doing so since September of this year,” he denounced.
During the ten months that the process has lasted, González assures that he has not been able to review the procedural minutes or obtain a copy of the file.
“I have been told once again that the file is confidential due to the ‘nature of the case’, which represents a serious violation of the rights and judicial guarantees that Rafael has, and that I have as his wife and mother of our two children,” he explained.
Conviction links Tudares with unknown person
The conviction accuses Tudares of conspiracy and links him to a person that, according to Mariana González, he does not know.
“In short, Rafael was associated with a person he does not know, acts that he has not committed and crimes that he has in no way committed were attributed to him,” he said.
He denounced that the State prevented him from choosing trusted lawyers and assigned him a public defender from whom he has received “more information than that transmitted until now” only through official communications.
On Tuesday, she explained that she learned of her husband’s conviction through rumors spread on the Internet and through some digital media.
She expressed that this situation represented a serious violation of Tudares’ rights, and stressed that despite the restrictions and obstacles imposed, she and her lawyer would go before the competent authorities to request clarity on the status of the trial, which – she points out – took place clandestinely.
