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Venezuela's dissident state prosecutor expects to be fired

Other News Materials 4 July 2017 21:19 (UTC +04:00)
Venezuela's dissident state prosecutor, Luisa Ortega, said she expected to be fired later on Tuesday after alleging human rights violations and decrying an erosion of democracy under President Nicolas Maduro
Venezuela's dissident state prosecutor expects to be fired

Venezuela's dissident state prosecutor, Luisa Ortega, said she expected to be fired later on Tuesday after alleging human rights violations and decrying an erosion of democracy under President Nicolas Maduro, Reuters reported.

Ortega, the main challenger to Maduro from within the ruling socialist movement during three months of opposition protests, said she would not recognize legal proceedings against her by an "unconstitutional and illegitimate" Supreme Court.

The internal fissure has emboldened anti-Maduro protesters, who have been staging near-daily demonstrations since April to demand early elections amid a devastating economic crisis that has millions struggling to eat properly.

"We already know they're going to remove me today," said Ortega in a speech at her office, slamming what she said was a "spurious" case designed to silence her.

"They've frozen my bank account, they've frozen my assets, and they've banned me from leaving the country. It appears that defending the constitution constitutes a crime," she said, waving a small blue book of the charter written under Maduro's predecessor and mentor, the late Hugo Chavez, in 1999.

The pro-government Supreme Court was considering a charge brought by Pedro Carreno, a socialist lawmaker, of "grave offense" against Ortega, a 59-year-old lawyer.

Officials have leveled a plethora of accusations against her, from "insanity" and encouraging "terrorists" to misusing a confiscated plane.

"She has attacked the democratic institutions of the country," Carreno told the Supreme Court during a hearing on Tuesday.

In recent weeks, Ortega has accused security forces of excessive violence, opposed pro-Maduro decisions by the Supreme Court and National Election Council, and said the president's plan for a new congress threatens democracy.

Speaking at her office in Caracas to applauding staff, Ortega said the case against her was rife with procedural errors and signs of collusion between the Supreme Court and the ruling party. She wryly remarked that the case was being handled with unusual speediness by Venezuela's infamously slow legal system.

Earlier on Tuesday, the court's constitutional chamber said her designation of a vice prosecutor was "absolutely null" and instead named its own vice prosecutor.

The court's appointee, Katherine Haringhton, was one of seven officials sanctioned by the United States in 2015 for alleged corruption and rights abuses.

Ortega condemned the parallel appointment as illegitimate. And in a swipe at first lady Cilia Flores, Ortega also mentioned the "narco-nephews" in her speech, an allusion to two relatives of Maduro's wife found guilty in the United States of trying to carry out a multimillion-dollar drug deal.

Protesters across the oil-rich South American nation of 30 million were beginning road blockades "against the dictatorship" on Tuesday afternoon.

The opposition is seeking to ramp up pressure ahead of Maduro's planned vote on July 30 to elect members of a new, controversial legislative superbody with powers to rewrite the constitution.

Maduro, a 54-year-old former union leader, says the assembly is the only way to bring peace to Venezuela after the deaths of 90 people in and around anti-government unrest since April.

His opponents counter it is a ruse designed to avoid free and fair elections the Socialist Party would lose, and possibly consolidate one-party rule in the mold of communist ally Cuba.

Warning that Venezuela is approaching "zero hour," lawmakers on Monday announced that the opposition would hold its own referendum on July 16 to let Venezuelans have their say on Maduro's plan and their alternative push for an election to replace him.

"They're trying to impose this fraudulent constituent assembly at all costs, but it's bound to fail because the Venezuelan people reject it," opposition lawmaker Adriana D'Elia said on Tuesday.

Opposition protesters also want solutions to the crushing economic crisis, freedom for hundreds of jailed activists, and independence for the opposition-led National Assembly.

Maduro, a former foreign minister who was narrowly elected in 2013 after Chavez's death from cancer, says protesting opponents are seeking a coup with U.S. support.

"Many are seeking ... little 'Rambos' in the armed forces, but you're not going to find them," Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino said in a video published on Monday, alluding to speculation of a military coup.

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