The Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice began an investigation regarding the fate of the trial ordered against seven officials of the Portuguesa state police accused of disappearing Carlos Antonio Neira Reinoso.
The details of this investigation are contained in ruling No. 0565 written by Judge Michel Adriana Velásquez Grillet and published on May 16.
The magistrates ordered to request the 2nd Trial Court of Portuguesa, “to report to this Chamber the current status of criminal case number 2J-889-14, or if it has issued any decision in this regard, and if so, record before this Chamber certified copy of the respective pronouncement.
The file on which the Constitutional Chamber is requesting information is related to the criminal proceedings opened against seven Portuguesa police officers identified as Deivis Augusto Ojeda González, Carlos Eduardo Rodríguez Godoy, Danny José Echeverría Pérez, Jhoander Antonio Andrade García, José Gabriel Carmona Berríos, Jogsan Darío Rodríguez Sulbaran and Jean Carlos Gil Cañizales.
These officials are allegedly involved in the events that occurred on March 26, 2010, the day they put Carlos Antonio Neira in a patrol car, when he was walking in front of the Luz del Mundo Church, located in sector 4, calle 4 of the above the Buenos Aires neighborhood, Guanare, Portuguesa state, says the sentence.
For this fact, they were charged with the crime of forced disappearance of persons and breach of international agreements. The trial against the seven has been attempted three times since February 22, 2013, being deferred 19 times.
On June 11, 2015, said trial began for the third time without the results being known to date. Under this argument, the Court of Appeals of Portuguesa ordered on 1/18/15 to release the seven defendants.
This decision was appealed through an amparo filed by prosecutors Oliver Uribe Pinto and Julene del Valle Godoy Romero, who requested that the seven police officers be kept in prison. They argued that the crimes imputed to such officials are considered crimes against humanity and do not allow any benefits.
On that occasion, April 7, 2017, the Constitutional Chamber admitted the amparo appeal and suspended the decision of the Portuguesa Court of Appeals, which meant keeping the seven Portuguesa police officers imprisoned until the end of the trial.
On May 16, the magistrates of the Constitutional Chamber reviewed the file and realized that there is no updated information on whether or not the police officers were put on trial.
That is why before making any decision regarding whether or not the decision of the Court of Appeals of Portuguesa to place the seven uniformed men on the street is in accordance with the law, the magistrates agreed to investigate whether the uniformed men had already gone to trial.
In the event that the 2nd Trial Court of Portuguesa does not provide the information required by the Constitutional Chamber, it is exposed to a fine of close to 2,800 euros, according to calculations derived from the formula described in article 122 of the TSJ Law.
