Venezuela opposition names alternative judges, Supreme Court declares naming null and void

Record ID: 903576

  • Title: Venezuela opposition names alternative judges, Supreme Court declares naming null and void
  • Date: 21st July 2017
  • Summary: CARACAS, VENEZUELA (JULY 21, 2017) (REUTERS) GENERAL VIEW OF NATIONAL ASSEMBLY LAWMAKERS GATHERED NATIONAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT JULIO BORGES ON STAGE VARIOUS OF SPECTATORS STANDING AROUND AND WATCHING OPPOSITION LAWMAKERS RAISING THEIR HANDS TO VOTE IN APPROVING THE NAMING OF THE NEW MAGISTRATES (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) PRESIDENT OF NATIONAL ASSEMBLY JULIO BORGES SAYING: "Like our flag, may our justice be yellow, blue and red, without politics and where all Venezuelans are equal before the law, where all Venezuelan have the same dignity before the law." GENERAL VIEW OF BORGES ON STAGE VARIOUS OF OPPOSITION-NAMED MAGISTRATES DURING SWEARING IN CEREMONY PEOPLE CLAPPING (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) OPPOSITION-NAMED MAGISTRATE LUIS MACRANO SAYING: "We have taken a step that many describe as being valiant, a step towards the construction of a new Venezuela that look not at politics but rather to justice, the application of the norms and not towards the privileges of one but rather towards the well-being of all." PEOPLE CLAPPING GENERAL VIEW CURRENT SUPREME COURT JUDGES STANDING JUDGES SITTING JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) SUPREME COURT JUSTICE JUAN MENDOZA SAYING: "In accordance to sentence 545, I declare null and void the process carried out by the National Assembly who intend to designate a group of persons as Supreme Court magistrates with the warning that the National Assembly as well as any citizen who intends to carry out the designation of Supreme Court judge is in flagrant violation of the constitutional and legal norms and that such acts are considered a crime under article 213 of the penal code." VARIOUS OF SUPREME COURT JUDGES LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) SUPREME COURT JUSTICE JUAN MENDOZA SAYING: "In regards to the acts that were declared null and void, the court declares that civil and military authorities execute the corresponding actions to maintain peace and national security." GENERAL VIEW OF SUPREME COURT JUDGES LEAVING COURT
  • Embargoed: 4th August 2017 20:12
  • Keywords: Venezuela Supreme Court opposition magistrates judges
  • Location: CARACAS, VENEZUELA
  • City: CARACAS, VENEZUELA
  • Country: Venezuela
  • Topics: Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA0016QNVM13
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Venezuela's opposition-led congress on Friday (July 21) appointed alternative judges to the country's Supreme Court, whose current pro-government members have been a bedrock of support for leftist President Nicolas Maduro.
    While widely seen as symbolic, the move raises the spectre of the development of a parallel state. The top court has warned that the naming of the alternate judges is illegal, and they could be jailed.
    Undeterred, opposition lawmakers swore in the 13 new judges and 20 substitute judges in a public plaza to combat what they say is oil-rich Venezuela's slide into dictatorship under Maduro.
    In a statement broadcast on state television later on Friday, the Supreme Court blasted the alternative judges who were named by the legislature.
    Even so, the government will not allow the congressionally appointed judges to unseat those already sitting on the Supreme Court.
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