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ePaper created 2015-11-10, 17:27:36 | version 1.33.00
REDACTED Page 146 of 190 He has been detained in the SEBIN headquarters since, with his trial pending.635 Mantilla has been charged of public incitement and intimidation, obstructing a public highway, arson involving public and private buildings, violent damage and conspiracy to commit a crime. 636 These offences carry a penalty of at least 18 years’ imprisonment. Amnesty International examined the charges brought by the General Prosecutor’s Office. The international NGO reports that: “[t]he main basis for the charges is the testimony of an unidentified individual and the evidence that SEBIN officers claim to have discovered in Rosmit Mantilla’s home”. Amnesty International concludes that: “the General Prosecutor’s Office has failed to present credible evidence linking Rosmit Mantilla to the crimes of which he is accused. For example, according to the General Prosecutor’s Office’s report, the authorities have based the charges of incitement, arson involving public and private buildings and violent damage on the fact that Rosmit Mantilla, according SEBIN’s version of events, was in possession of leaflets calling for anti-government student protests”. Moreover, the case’s preliminary hearing has been postponed eleven times, extending its pre-trial detention, which constitutes a violation of the due process of law.637 x) Antonio Ledezma In 2015, a new Mayor was arbitrarily arrested. On 19 February, SEBIN’s officers broke into Mayor Antonio Ledezma’s office and detained him without showing an arrest warrant.638 Antonio Ledezma was Mayor of Caracas and is a member of the opposition party Alianza Bravo Pueblo and, as Leopoldo López, a member of the MUD.639 “Ledezma will be held accountable for all his crimes," Maduro said in a speech that TV and radio stations across the country were required to deliver.640 Ledezma was translated to Ramo Verde, the same military prison in which López is imprisoned. 635 AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL. (2015) Venezuela: the Faces of Impunity. p.38; ACCION LIBERTAD. (2015) Derechos Humanos-Venezuela: Efectos de la criminalización de la protesta y la disidencia 636 AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL. (2015) Venezuela: the Faces of Impunity. p.38; ACCION LIBERTAD. (2015) Derechos Humanos-Venezuela: Efectos de la criminalización de la protesta y la disidencia 637 AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL. (2015) Venezuela: the Faces of Impunity. p.38 638 BBC. (2009) Fue legal la detención del líder opositor venezolano Antonio Ledezma?; HRW. (2015) UNASUR: Condemn Abuses in Venezuela. Human Rights Watch. [Online] 26 February. Available from: https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/02/26/unasur-condemn-abuses-venezuela [Accessed 26 October, 2015] 639 BBC. (2015) Quién es Antonio Ledezma, el alcalde opositor arrestado por el gobierno de Venezuela 640 LA NACION. (2015) Nicolás Maduro: "Ledezma debe responder a la Justicia por los delitos cometidos contra la paz del país.”