New Venezuela Parliament Passes Measure in Support of Political Prisoners Latin American Herald Tribune January 15, 2016
CARACAS - Venezuela's new opposition-dominated parliament passed a measure Thursday in favor of "political prisoners" or opposition politicians who are in jail, and urged the government to comply with the decisions of international human rights organizations concerning them.
As expected, the measure was rejected by Chavist lawmakers, who said the agreement violates "the basic norms of public international law" as it interferes with the principle of "non-interference in the internal affairs of countries."
The agreement refers to the resolutions of international bodies, including the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, or IACHR, of which Venezuela has not been a part since September 2013, and U.N. bodies like the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention or the Human Rights Committee.
The agreement exhorts judges, courts and officials to "comply with and immediately execute decisions, resolutions, reports, opinions, measures or acts passed by international human rights organizations."
It also urges the State to meet the requirements of U.N. bodies to release opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, sentenced to almost 14 years in prison, former mayor of San Cristobal Daniel Ceballos, under house arrest for inciting violence, and Caracas mayor Antonio Ledezma, also under house arrest for conspiring against the government, among others.
It also demands the autonomy and independence of judges and prosecutors in the trial against former judge Maria Lourdes Afiuni Mora, who has been under house arrest since February 2010 for allegedly facilitating the escape of businessman Eligio Cedeño, accused of carrying out illegal currency exchange operations.
The Venezuelan opposition alliance, the Democratic Unity Roundtable, or MUD, is also scheduled to introduce an amnesty and national reconciliation bill to release political prisoners.
The Venezuelan President has rejected the bill, although it is yet to be debated in the parliament, and recently warned he would veto any measure favoring those he calls "murderers" and "terrorists."
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