The Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice dismissed an appeal that sought to reverse the 15-year prison sentence imposed on Magbis Hatil Rondón Reyes for the crime of illicit arms trafficking. The high court’s decision was explained in ruling number 655 written by Judge Elsa Gómez and validated by her colleagues Carmen Marisela Castro and Maikel Moreno.
The criminal prosecution of Rondón Reyes began on November 2, 2019, the day of his arrest in San Fernando de Apure, during a procedure by the Bolivarian National Police.
At the time of his arrest, the officials seized: three packages of alleged type C4 explosive (1 kilo 360 grams), 25 boxes of Cavim brand ammunition, 20 cartridges that fit 7.62 x 39 caliber rifles for a total of 500 ammunition , according to the police report reproduced in the sentence.
They also seized six RDX pyrotechnic detonators, a tablet, a cell phone and a military uniform with its respective cap.
Given these events, the Public Ministry requested to open a trial against Rondón Reyes for illicit trafficking of weapons and ammunition, criminal association and terrorism. This request from the Prosecutor’s Office was debated on November 6, 2020 before the First Special Control Court with jurisdiction in cases related to Terrorism, Corruption and Organized Crime, from where it was agreed to open the trial.
But the aforementioned court changed the crime of trafficking in arms and ammunition to that of arms trafficking. Likewise, it discarded the crime of terrorism and retained the crime of criminal association.
The trial took place between June 8, 2021 and March 31, 2023, when they issued the sentence of 15 years in prison, after being found guilty of the crime of arms trafficking. He was acquitted of the crime of criminal association, the sentence says.
Public defender Jonimar Flores filed an appeal before the Criminal Chamber, denouncing alleged irregularities committed by the Court of Appeals when resolving the first complaints filed.
The magistrates analyzed the matter and detected flaws in its presentation. For this reason, they rejected it and reminded the public defender that the cassation appeal is exercised against last resort rulings that end the trial or prevent its continuation.
The magistrates also recalled that this appeal has the character of extraordinary because “it cannot be expected that this Criminal Chamber will carry out an examination of the process, which is done in the trial phase, or due to a disagreement on the part of any of the parties (…) but rather this constitutes a means of challenging the final ruling, which seeks the annulment of that ruling due to an error of law.”
Under this argument, the magistrates of the Criminal Chamber left unscathed the 15-year sentence imposed on Rondón Reyes for the crime of arms trafficking.
