Venezuela's new chief prosecutor vows to
jail protest leaders
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[August 18, 2017]
By Hugh Bronstein
CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela will hunt
down and jail leaders of violent protests that have rocked the country
since April, its new top prosecutor said on Thursday, a day before a
hate crimes law was expected to be approved despite fears that it will
be used to crush dissent.
The new law "against hate and intolerance," denounced by rights groups
as a sham aimed at persecuting the opposition, was set to be approved on
Friday by a new legislative superbody elected last month at the behest
of President Nicolas Maduro.
Maduro loyalist Delcy Rodriguez, head of the body known as the
constituent assembly, said the law would be passed before the weekend.
She spoke to the assembly following a speech by chief prosecutor Tarek
Saab, appointed by the assembly early this month, who vowed to track
down the leaders of protests in which more than 120 people have died
since the start of April.

"It will be a point of honor for the public prosecutor's office to
identify who was responsible for each of the hate crimes that occurred
in this country," Saab, Maduro's ex-human rights ombudsman, shouted
during a speech to the assembly.
"We will search the cameras, videos, photographs. We will get images of
each one of them to make sure they pay for having killed, for having
hurt people and left orphans behind," he said to a standing ovation by
the Socialist Party-dominated assembly.
The international community, however, has pointed at the Maduro
government, not opposition demonstrators, when assigning blame for
deaths.
Venezuelan security forces and pro-government groups were believed
responsible for the deaths of at least 73 demonstrators since April, the
United Nations said in an Aug. 8 report.
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Venezuela's chief prosecutor Tarek William Saab is seen after a
meeting of the Truth Commission in Caracas, Venezuela August 16,
2017. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino

Abuses of protesters, including torture, were part of "the breakdown
of the rule of law" in the oil-rich but economically-ailing nation,
the report said.
Those found guilty of expressing hate or intolerance will be
punished with up to 25 years in jail, according to the vaguely
worded hate crimes bill.
Groups like Human Rights Watch say it would give Maduro's government
carte blanche to take opposition leaders out of circulation ahead of
October gubernatorial elections.
The assembly has established a truth commission to investigate
opposition candidates to ensure that any who were involved in
violent protests would be barred from running for governorships,
Rodriguez said.
The opposition, which won control of congress in 2015 only to see
its decisions nullified by Maduro's loyalist Supreme Court,
boycotted the July 30 election of the constituent assembly. The body
has sweeping powers to re-write Venezuela's constitution and even
give Maduro permission to rule by decree.
(Additional reporting by Deisy Buitrago; Editing by Michael Perry;
Editing by Leslie Adler)
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