Trial Begins for Venezuela Opposition Leader Leopoldo Lopez Lopez Tried Behind Closed Doors With No Cameras, Press Allowed By Kejal Vyas The Wall Street Journal July 23, 2014
CARACAS, Venezuela— Leopoldo Lopez, an opposition leader jailed after the government accused him of inciting violent protests that shook this country earlier in the year, went on trial Wednesday in a case that has drawn international condemnation from human rights groups.
In a news conference, President Nicolás Maduro accused Mr. Lopez of being part of an "ultra-rightwing" group out to destabilize his populist government. He promised that justice would be delivered.
"He is responsible for crimes. He has to pay, and he will pay," the president said. "For us, what's important is to govern and to make sure that groups like these don't do any more damage to the country."
Calls to government and judicial officials seeking comment about the nature of the trial weren't returned.
The 43-year-old president of the Popular Will party was tried behind closed doors in proceedings that began in the afternoon. No cameras or press were allowed into the courtroom, and soldiers had blocked off a three-block radius around the Palace of Justice in downtown Caracas.
Mr. Lopez's legal team had complained ahead of the trial that several petitions they had filed were thrown out, including requests to open the proceedings to the press and replace the judge. Defense lawyers had argued that the judge overseeing the case had refused the defense from presenting witnesses and legal experts at a preliminary hearing held in June.
"It's hard to imagine how Lopez could possibly get a fair trial from a justice system that lacks any real independence," said Jose Miguel Vivanco, head of the Americas division for New York-based Human Rights Watch, which has produced reports on Venezuela's judicial system. "After keeping him locked up for months without providing credible evidence to justify his detention, the judiciary is now refusing to let his attorneys present evidence in his defense."
Mr. Lopez surrendered to authorities after Mr. Maduro and other top government officials went on television to accuse him of instigating the violence at a Feb. 12 protest that left two people dead. He is being tried along with four student activists, all of whom have been held for months on charges of stirring the civil unrest that left more than 40 people dead over several weeks of nationwide demonstrations.
Mr. Lopez has been held in a military prison outside the capital. The protests fizzled in April in the face of a tough crackdown by the state security forces. Critics of the government say Mr. Lopez and the student leader who is being tried with him are the political prisoners of a government that is trying to divert attention from a crumbling economy, high inflation and food shortages.
"The government recognizes that they haven't done anything besides give speeches," Lilian Tintori, Mr. Lopez's wife, said in a statement Wednesday. "The government knows it is committing an injustice."
Leaders in Mr. Lopez's political party say Popular Will has been targeted by the government in recent months. Another leader in the party, Daniel Ceballos, who was the mayor of the western Venezuelan city of San Cristobal where the protest movement was at its fiercest, was also arrested. He was quickly sentenced to a year in prison for failing to quell protests.
—Ezequiel Minaya contributed to this article.
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