The largest number of prosecutor arrests was reported at the beginning of September. Then the Public Ministry reported on 14 arrests in the state of Carabobo alone, linked to a corruption plot that was allegedly directed by a lawyer named Rafael Reyna.
On Friday, December 5, prosecutor Tarek William Saab reported on the arrests of four former officials in the Capital District and Lara state. With this, at least 27 lawyers with positions in various prosecutor’s offices have been arrested this year, although the number could be higher.
Until September 5, 570 former MP officials had been “processed and prosecuted for the commission of crimes contrary to the Law and the Constitution.” Three months later, nine other former prosecutors have been publicly accused of alleged crimes related to corruption and abuse of authority.
The last case corresponds to former prosecutors 30 of the Caracas Metropolitan Area Lenyn Puello, Deide Cabezas and Sabelle Sosa. The group was arrested for alleged delay or intentional omission of functions and gathering. “These former officials requested money from a citizen in order to disassociate him from an investigation that was being carried out by the aforementioned tax office.”
That same day, the MP’s Instagram account also reported on the arrest of lawyer Johanna Elyouri, former ninth prosecutor of the Lara state, for the alleged crimes of delay or intentional omission of duties and abuse of authority, as she “criminally attempted to carry out the arbitrary eviction of people who were living in the El Ujano sector (eastern area of Barquisimeto)”, despite direct circulars issued by Saab.
On October 2, the arrest warrants were announced against the former sixth prosecutor of Lara Darling Ortiz and her assistant, lawyer Jairo González. Both were accused of “own corruption”, but in the case of Ortiz the cases of “arbitrary acts, outrage to public modesty and incitement to hatred” were also added.
According to the former prosecutor Zair MundarayDarling Ortiz was accused of indecency after the leak of some intimate videos. These videos would have been leaked “by an Aviation general with the last name Infante”, so the accusation was reversed against the victim.
In addition, Mundaray denounced that Thony Ortiz, the lawyer’s father, 68 years old and with serious heart problems, was arrested and is detained in a police station in Barquisimeto, a practice that he equated with sippenhaft Nazi (punishment for family relationship).
However, the largest number of arrests was reported at the beginning of September. Then the Public Ministry reported on 14 arrests of prosecutors in the state of Carabobo alone, linked to a corruption plot that was allegedly led by a lawyer named Rafael Reyna.
According to the story of Tarek William Saab, Reyna – who had been arrested on April 26 – He commanded a group of former prosecutors who “demanded large amounts of money from their victims” to handle cases, expertise and investigative procedures, deliver vehicles or manipulate the Integrated Police Information System. Among those detained was the former top prosecutor of Carabobo, Miguel José Durán Trejo.
However, unofficially, other detainees or “interrogations” were reported that were not duly informed by the MP. The official media Latest News published a note in which it was assured that the prosecutor Farik Mora, identified as one of the main officials who handles cases of political prisoners, and three line directors of the MP They were “interrogated”.
Among those questioned were Marvin Emperatriz González Barrios, director against corruption, Ángel Fuenmayor, director of common crimes, and Orlando Peña, director of organized crime.
The Provea organization, based on unofficial information, also reported that Judge Ángel Betancourt Martínez, in charge of the Third Control Court of the Caracas Metropolitan Area with jurisdiction over terrorism, was arrested.
The arrests of the national prosecutor Moisés García, the president of the judicial circuit of Nueva Esparta, Patricia del Valle Marcano Marcano, the assistant to the presiding magistrate of the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice, Bárbara Gómez, as well as the presiding judge of the state of Bolívar, Yaritza Yileida Godoy, the president of the criminal circuit of that entity, Carlos Retiff, and the senior prosecutor Luis Roa, were also reported on social networks.
Another of the prosecutors under arrest would be Moisés García for being “part of a network of extortionists who for some reason fell into disgrace,” Mundaray said on social networks.
Despite sporadic information from the Public Ministry, it is unknown the progress of these cases, the courts in charge of prosecuting these people or whether any of these prosecutors have already been convicted.
*Journalism in Venezuela is carried out in a hostile environment for the press with dozens of legal instruments in place to punish the word, especially the laws “against hate”, “against fascism” and “against the blockade.” This content was written taking into consideration the threats and limits that, consequently, have been imposed on the dissemination of information from within the country.
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