Murder? Extortion? Racketeering? Disbarred? All in a days work for VZ top judge!
Special Report: How a Defrocked Judge Became the Chief Legal Enforcer for Maduro's Venezuela
US News & World Report 15 hours ago
By Girish Gupta
CARACAS (Reuters) - Last March, Chief Justice Maikel Moreno shocked Venezuela when his Supreme Court nullified the powers of the National Assembly and transferred them to the 32-judge tribunal.
Even in a country used to political upheaval, the decision triggered major protests, forcing Moreno to roll back much of the move three days later.
But the power play illustrated Moreno's role as enforcer for the embattled administration of President Nicolas Maduro, now branded a dictatorship by a growing number of governments, from France and the United States to South American neighbors Colombia and Peru.
The 51-year-old bodyguard-turned-judge and his court have overruled virtually every major law passed by the opposition-led assembly.
Moreno's past, however, remains unknown even to most Venezuelans. To trace his ascent, Reuters examined documents and interviewed associates, colleagues and friends of the chief justice in five countries.
The picture that emerges is of a jurist who, by leveraging personal connections and handling politically sensitive cases that other lawyers and judges rejected, endeared himself to Maduro and fellow members of the late Hugo Chavez's "Bolivarian Revolution."
In his rise to Venezuela's top judicial perch, Moreno left behind a past that includes allegations he participated in extortion and influence-peddling rackets and his arrest in 1989 on suspicions of killing a teenager, according to government documents and people familiar with his history.
Reuters found no evidence Moreno was ever tried or convicted of any criminal charges....
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https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2017-11-15/special-report-how-a-defrocked-judge-became-the-chief-legal-enforcer-for-maduros-venezuela
