Wives of political prisoners denounce Venezuelan judiciary

[naaman fletcher]

t’s hard to fight. We have nowhere to look," said Tahianny Pisani Romero, wife of Brigadier Army General Delfin Gomez Parra, who has been detained for five years without trial because the judge who was supposed to try him has been on leave for two years.

Parra was the head of a military unit overseeing construction of a sugar-processing plant in Barinas, the home state of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. He was accused of corruption when funds went missing during the construction, but his wife says Parra was the one who uncovered the corruption and was punished for trying to expose it. The Venezuela Awareness Foundation says the accusation was full of irregularities.

"My 15-year-old has been five years without a father," said Pisani, adding that living far from the Caracas prison makes visits very difficult for the family.

Pisani was joined by three other wives of Venezuelan prisoners. Jackelin Sandoval, the wife of Rolando Guevara Perez, said the witness who testified that her husband had murdered a federal prosecutor was paid by the government and operated under false credentials, a claim substantiated by Venezuela's Globovision.

http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/2011/04/wives-political-prisoners-denounce-venezuelan-judiciary-0