Coup Victims Back
Amnesty
Caracas - The victims of
the 2002 coup d'etat in
Venezuela backed an
amnesty decreed by
President Hugo Chavez
for crimes linked to
that event, amid
criticisms by the
opposition, which
proposes to expand that
measure.
Representatives of the
Association of Coup
d'Etat Victims said that
the defense attorneys
for 11 Metropolitan
Police officers accused
of crimes against
humankind have used
criticism as a strategy.
Yesenia Fuentes and
Attorney Antonio Molina
told the radio station
YVKE Mundial that the ex
police officers were not
excluded from the
amnesty, but they cannot
benefit from the
measure, because they
were accused of crimes
against humankind and
human rights violations.
They recalled that the
amnesty does not benefit
those who committed
crimes against
humankind, human rights
violations or did not
surrender to the
competent courts.
Molina added that Chiefs
Lazaro Forero, Henry
Vivas and Ivan
Simonovich, and the
other members of the
Metropolitan Police shot
at people unjustifiably.
The sources recalled
that on April 11, 2002,
a group of officers from
the Metropolitan Police
shot their rifles and
submachine guns at
President Hugo Chavez's
supporters who were
demonstrating on Baralt
Avenue and Puente
Llaguno, near the
Presidential Palace.
Molina explained that
after the defense
attorneys presented an
appeal on the grounds of
unconstitutionality on
April 13, 2007, the
Constitutional Courtroom
of the Supreme Court of
Justice ruled that the
police officers could
not benefit from the
amnesty.
In no case, the decree
can favor them, because
the crimes they
committed attempted
against people,
including serious
violations of human
rights such as the right
to life, he added.
"The Venezuelan State
cannot, under any
concept, grant any kind
of benefits to these
people because that
would lead to impunity,"
he pointed out. |
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