Lilia Camejo, also director of Venezuelan Justice and expert in military criminal justice, pointed out that “it is not true that military political prisoners are not covered within the Amnesty Law.” Camejo explained that article 8 of the instrument, in paragraph 10, establishes that the violent events that occurred between January and April 2019 fall within the protection of the amnesty, except for the military rebellion.
The NGO Venezuelan Justice denied that all military political prisoners could be excluded from the Amnesty Law. They expressed their support for the norm, approved in the second discussion in the National Assembly (AN) last Thursday, February 19.
During a press conference, the directors of the NGO detailed that article 8 of the law only leaves out military personnel convicted of military rebellion, a crime that was not charged in all cases.
Neida Pérez Morillo, lawyer and specialist in criminal law, and director of the organization, described it as a “great advance” in matters of Human Rights.
“As established in article number two of this Law (of Amnesty), in its ordinal two, in Venezuela we are committed to the promotion of peace, coexistence, rectification and reconciliation (…) Let justice, equity and transparency prevail,” he said at a press conference.
*Read also: Rodríguez meets with Shell representatives to explore investment opportunities
For her part, Dr. Lilia Camejo, also director of Venezuelan Justice and expert in military criminal justice, pointed out that “it is not true that military political prisoners are not covered within the Amnesty Law.”
Camejo explained that article 8 of the instrument, in paragraph 10, establishes that the violent events that occurred between January and April 2019 fall within the protection of the amnesty, except for military rebellion.
He explained that in the so-called “Cotiza Case”, and in the events that occurred on April 30 in the vicinity of La Carlota, none of those involved were accused or convicted of the crime of military rebellion.
“We were technical defense in that case and all those officers were accused and convicted of the crime of mutiny, theft of effects belonging to the Armed Forces, disobedience in time of peace,” he explained to maintain that they were acquitted of the crime of treason.
Camejo exemplified the issue of military political prisoners who must be released with the case of the Commanders of the Army Armored Battalions, about whom he said that although they are not within the dates specified in the Amnesty Law, they have already served their sentence and have not yet been released.
“In all these cases there are many innocent people, and they are being sentenced with exorbitant sentences of 30 years,” Camejo lamented to make a call in which he ratified the position of deputy Jorge Arreaza, president of the monitoring commission of the National Assembly for this issue, who stated that the military criminal jurisdiction must analyze many of these files.
After reiterating their willingness to continue adding all efforts in pursuit of the release of these officers who may be beneficiaries of the law and the situation that the country is experiencing in pursuit of the consolidation of peace, the spokespersons for Venezuelan Justice emphasized their solidarity with the families and military victims of the political violence that occurred in the country on January 3.
*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.
Post Views: 182
