Inter-American Court judge labels political ban as shackles of the past

[naaman fletcher]

El Universal: The Inter-American Court of Human Rights described as "shackles of the past" and "a legal involution" Article 105 of the law governing the Comptroller General's Office in Venezuela. Such regulation allowed Comptroller General Clodosbaldo Russian to disqualify more than 800 officials and former officials in recent years, among them former Mayor of Chacao municipality (eastern Caracas) Leopoldo Lopez, on alleged corruption.

The remarks were made on Tuesday by Argentinean judge Leonardo Franco, during the first session of a two-day public hearing examining an order given by the Venezuelan government to block Lopez, an opposition leader, from running for public office until 2014.

Further, doubts were cast on Venezuela's commitment to the letter and the spirit of the American Convention of Human Rights. Judges Manuel Ventura Robles (Costa Rica) and Alejandro Perez Perez (Uruguay) hinted their doubts as they posed questions to witnesses and experts subpoenaed by the parties. The Convention provides that any restriction on the political right to run for public office must be adopted only by a competent court.

During his statement in the Court, the former Venezuelan Mayor complained that he was disqualified despite the fact that there was no ruling against him. "If there was an offence, it should be aired in a court, but I have never had the opportunity to appear before impartial judges in my country," he said. "The Comptroller General conceded that there damage to State property."

http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=101487

The world is starting to realize that the leadership in venezuela is filthy. It is probably just a coincidence that Chavez's supporters here have been quiet the last 10 days.

[joshcryer]

1. That article is very hard to parse. Where does Venezuela admit that López's rights were restricted?

And are they going to allow him to run?

The Venezuelan State, through Cristian Colson, a director at the Solicitor's General Office, told the Court that the action against López was not imposed by a court, because it is not a political disqualification but a ban from public office. The official said that there are differences between the two terms: "In the political disqualification, people are fully banned from exercising the right to vote, while in the administrative disqualification people are blocked from running for office."

That is impossible to understand. You can administratively bar people from elections in Venezuela? That is extremely hard for me to believe, it sounds made up and extremely corrupt.