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ePaper created 2015-11-10, 17:27:36 | version 1.33.00
REDACTED Page 138 of 190 recently, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights called for the liberation of Leopoldo López.588 Lopez was sentenced in September 2015 to 13 years, 9 months, 7 days and 12 hours of imprisonment after a lengthy trial flawed by violations of due process. All the prosecutors involved in the López judiciary proceedings have been temporary appointees: Franklin Nieves Capace, Nardin Sanabria Bernatte, Juan Canelón Marín, Guendy Duque Carvajal and José Foti González589 and were therefore under the direct control of the General Prosecutor Luisa Ortega Díaz, and, ultimately, of Nicolás Maduro. In October 2015, one of the two lead prosecutors on the case who had been appearing in the case for more than a year, prosecutor Franklin Nieves López, defected leaving the Venezuela to seek asylum in the US with his wife and two daughters. 590 There he admitted in several interviews that “Leopoldo López is innocent” and that the charges were politically motivated and the “trial was a farce based on false evidence and unjustly violated his rights.”591 “From my heart, I want to ask for forgiveness from Venezuela, Leopoldo López’s, López’s wife, the López family, and especially from their children,” he said. He confirmed that: “This was a totally political trial which should be nullified. All of Leopoldo López’s human rights were violated because he was not able to present any witnesses or evidence,” Mr. Nieves said in the interview. 592 He provided information on the control of the Presidency over the Office of the General Prosecutor and the judidiciary stating that: “Prosecutors and judges fear that if anyone dissents from carrying out an order, he will be detained, or a criminal case will be invented against him and he will be jailed.” 593 He said dozens of Venezuelan security officials milled around outside the courtroom doors during every one of Mr. López’s trial sessions, serving to intimidate judicial personnel into not defying orders. Nieves said http://www.eluniversal.com/nacional-y-politica/150414/congreso-de-espana-pide-liberacion-de- ledezma-y-López [Accessed 25 October, 2015] 588 IACHR. (2015) Resolution 12/2015. Inter-American Commission of Human Rights. [Online] 20 April. Available from: https://www.oas.org/es/cidh/decisiones/pdf/2015/MC335-14-ES.pdf [Accessed 25 October, 2015] 589 http://perseus-strategies.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Caso-de-Leopoldo-Lopez-11.25.2014- Espa%C3%B1ol1.pdf 590 WALL STREET JOURNAL. [2015] [Online] 26 October 2015. Available from: http://www.wsj.com/articles/venezuela-prosecutor-franklin-nieves-says-opposition-leaders-trial-was-a- sham-1445895707. [Accessed on 4 November 2015] 591 WALL STREET JOURNAL. [2015] [Online] 26 October 2015. Available from: http://www.wsj.com/articles/venezuela-prosecutor-franklin-nieves-says-opposition-leaders-trial-was-a- sham-1445895707. [Accessed on 4 November 2015] 592 WALL STREET JOURNAL. [2015] [Online] 26 October 2015. Available from: http://www.wsj.com/articles/venezuela-prosecutor-franklin-nieves-says-opposition-leaders-trial-was-a- sham-1445895707. [Accessed on 4 November 2015] 593 WALL STREET JOURNAL. [2015] [Online] 26 October 2015. Available from: http://www.wsj.com/articles/venezuela-prosecutor-franklin-nieves-says-opposition-leaders-trial-was-a- sham-1445895707. [Accessed on 4 November 2015]