June 2: Lopez Remanded

UPDATE: This post incorrectly reported that Lopez’s preliminary hearing had concluded, and that the decision had been made. In fact, the preliminary hearing ended up lasting two more days, although the decision reached was the same as reported in this post. I apologize for this mistake.

The article describing the actual end of Lopez’s preliminary hearing can be found here.

At the conclusion of his preliminary hearing before a judge today, the court ordered that Lopez be remanded into custody until his trial. The court also ruled to proceed with the four charges laid against Lopez, which are arson, damages to public property, instigation and associating with the purposes of committing a crime.

Lopez will now return to his prison cell in the Ramo Verde military facility in the outskirts of Caracas, where he will await his trial.

Some time today, Lopez released a 57 page letter he wrote over the course of his detention at Ramo Verde. The letter is available here in Spanish. I will work on translating it into English in the coming days.

The beginning of the letter is found below (bolding is mine):

A few words to injustice. Denouncing the dictatorship, and for the conquest of democracy in Venezuela.
I am a political prisoner, a prisoner of conscience. These are my words before an unjust justice on the occasion of my preliminary hearing on the case that has taken my liberty for more than 70 days. I am writing these words from my jail cell in the Ramo Verde military prison.
I have been persecuted politically by the regime for more than 10 years. More than twenty investigations, political trials, homicide attempts rightfully denounced but never resolved, moral assassination by the state media and two political disqualifications, which despite having obtained a favourable sentence in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights due to the violation of my rights to a defence and political participation, have stopped me from exercising [my] electoral offices.
For more than one year, starting in January 2013, Nicolas Maduro has publicly expressed his wish to throw me in jail. In more than 10 opportunities, in cadena nacional, Maduro announced that I should go to jail for the opinions I expressed against his government.

In Other News

33 bodies entered the Bello Monte morgue in Caracas this past weekend. In all of May, 422 bodies were processed in Bello Monte, the only morgue in Caracas. One of the latest victims was 26 year old Jose Javier Torres, who was shot multiple times while unknown assailants attempted to rob him of his BlackBerry.

Ivan Simonovis, who ended his hunger strike yesterday, made some comments regarding the situation in Venezuela following a court’s decision this weekend to deny his appeal for early release on account of his failing health. Simonovis said:

The future of the country looks desolate. It is said that whoever apologizes first is the bravest, and whoever forgives first is the strongest. Those who today hold power definitely have not realized that they must reciprocate, rectify [and] ask for forgiveness from the country for the grave harm they have done to this nation. Each day that passes will make it more difficult for them to gain forgiveness from these noble people.