Rights Group: Systematic Violations in Venezuela
Judges and prosecutors in Venezuela have repeatedly ignored evidence of systematic human rights abuses by government security forces, a prominent human rights group said Monday.
Human Rights Watch said in a new report that dozens of unarmed protesters have been subject to serious physical and psychological abuse during protests that have left at least 41 dead since February. Abuses have included broken bones, denial of medical treatment and threats of rape or death.
The New York-based organization said it has documented at least 10 cases serious enough to be considered torture. Its report is based on March visits to Caracas and the Venezuelan states of Carabobo, Lara, and Miranda.
Human Rights Watch said that nearly all of the 150 of the victims it found were denied basic due process, and that many were held incommunicado and denied access to legal counsel until minutes before they went to court, often in the middle of the night.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/rights-group-systematic-violations-venezuela-23591672
