HRW Says Venezuela Using Prosecutions to Go after Government Critics

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government is misusing the criminal justice system to go after its critics, with prosecutors opening criminal cases against more than two dozen of them, Human Rights Watch charged Thursday.

"Venezuelan authorities have routinely abused their powers to limit free expression, undermining open, democratic debate that is especially critical with legislative elections coming up in December," said Jose Vivanco, HRW's Americas director.

Highly publicized arrests of prominent Venezuelan opposition leaders Leopoldo Lopez and Antonio Ledezma have drawn international criticism.

But HRW said it found that the government's misuse of the criminal justice system extended to many others who had publicly criticized government policies or figures.

It said it has documented 31 such cases, 22 of them related to Venezuelan media outlets that reported allegations linking National Assembly president Diosdado Cabello to a drug cartel.

In one recent case, businessman Fray Roa Contreras was detained by intelligence agents on July 24, one day after criticizing the government's economic policies in a CNN interview.

Roa Contreras is reportedly being prosecuted for allegedly disseminating false information that "causes panic in the people or maintains them in a state of anxiety," according to HRW.

Vivanco said Venezuela's judiciary has largely ceased to function as an independent institution, as judges and prosecutors have become "obedient soldiers" of the regime.

"This dramatic abuse of the justice system is possible because there are no truly independent institutions left in Venezuela capable of protecting human rights and acting as checks and balances of executive power," Vivanco said.

"Threatening and prosecuting people who speak out about Venezuela’s problems isn’t going to make those problems go away."