The Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice has rejected an appeal seeking to annul the 17-year prison sentence imposed on two former CICPC officials, identified as José Rafael D’Montijo and Carmelo Francisco Carmona de Oliveira, accused of drug trafficking.
This decision is contained in ruling 457 drafted by Judge Maikel Moreno and signed by his colleague Carmen Castro.
Carmona de Oliveira already had an open criminal case due to his alleged participation in a kidnapping that occurred in Biruaca (Apure), in January 2019. And in January 2022, another case was opened against him on the occasion of his arrest during a procedure carried out by agents of the Bolivarian National Police (PNB).
Specifically, the arrest of the two subjects took place on Las Fuentes Avenue, El Paraíso, Caracas. The agents noticed that a Toyota Fortuner was coming at high speed, so they ordered it to stop. Carmona identified himself as a Cicpc officer.
Upon conducting the check, it was revealed that D’ Montijo was wanted by the 1st Enforcement Court of Caracas since 09-19-2019. While Carmona enjoyed the benefit of house arrest.
Given this situation, both were arrested and taken to the PNB headquarters in Montalbán where they searched the truck and located four packages of cocaine that weighed 3 thousand kilos 942 grams.
For this reason, prosecutors Yenny Yanisa Leal Armao and Wilmer Gabriel Bandre Jiménez requested that a trial be opened against the former officials through an accusation presented on March 14, 2022 before the 37th Control Court of Caracas.
That motion was approved and consequently D’Montijo and Carmona de Oliveira were tried between November 22, 2022 and July 12, 2023. At the end of the oral debate, the 8th Trial Court of Caracas issued a sentence of 17 years in prison for illicit trafficking of narcotic and psychotropic substances.
The Court of Appeals of Caracas ratified the conviction on March 26, so their lawyers went to the Criminal Court where they complained that during the trial, evidence favorable to the convicted men was not considered.
They also noted that it was contradictory to attribute them to being drug dealers in the Las Fuentes development when the drugs were seized elsewhere.
The judges described the group of complaints as “vague, generic and imprecise” and therefore dismissed them. They criticised the fact that they focused on questioning the activity carried out by the trial court, an issue that should not be dealt with in an appeal (cassation) such as the one presented to the Criminal Court, they recalled in the ruling.
