A court with jurisdiction over terrorism sentenced 20 people to 30 years in prison for their participation in the failed maritime incursion in May 2020, when, according to the Nicolás Maduro administration, the opposition attempted a military invasion.
The Coalition for Human Rights and Democracy, which is defending several of the defendants in this case, announced the court’s decision through X. In addition, nine other people received sentences of 21 years in prison for the operation, ‘Gedeón’.
Lawyer Alonso Medina Roa, a member of the group, said that the convicted men had been “indirectly linked” to this case, except for one of them, although he did not provide names.
The crimes charged were treason, conspiracy, rebellion, criminal association and financing of terrorism.
Among those convicted is Josnars Baduel, son of Raúl Isaías Baduel, former Minister of Defense of the late President Hugo Chávez, as confirmed on social media by his family, who considered the sentence to be a “judicial farce.”
Operation Gedeón was carried out by a group of former Venezuelan military personnel who had deserted from the country’s Armed Forces and three members of a private security team from the United States who tried to enter Venezuela through the coasts of La Guaira and Aragua and were neutralized.
In May 2021, the courts had already sentenced 54 people out of a total of 85 detainees to sentences ranging from 12 to 24 years in prison, without moving on to the next phase of the criminal process, for having admitted their responsibilities in the maritime attack.
Since then, 31 other people were still pending legal proceedings, of whom 29 were sentenced on Wednesday, while the remaining two, Americans Luke Denman and Airan Berry, were released last December, when the government exchanged prisoners with the US to secure the release of Colombian businessman Alex Saab.
The Prosecutor’s Office said in 2021 that 63 people were still pending arrest.
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2024-07-12 09:16:41