Venezuela's recently dismissed chief prosecutor Luisa Ortega: "I'm being persecuted"
Record ID:
905924
Venezuela's recently dismissed chief prosecutor Luisa Ortega: "I'm being persecuted"
- Title: Venezuela's recently dismissed chief prosecutor Luisa Ortega: "I'm being persecuted"
- Date: 10th August 2017
- Summary: CARACAS, VENEZUELA (AUGUST 10, 2017) (REUTERS) VENEZUELAN CHIEF PROSECUTOR LUISA ORTEGA SEATED AT INTERVIEW, TALKING (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) FORMER CHIEF PROSECUTOR OF VENEZUELA, LUISA ORTEGA, SAYING: "I'm being permanently persecuted. My house, the places I travel to. There's always a car following me, stopping where I stop, people taking photos of me and the places I go. Where are my rights? I denounce this before the national and international communities." ORTEGA SEATED AT INTERVIEW, TALKING AND GESTURING (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) FORMER CHIEF PROSECUTOR OF VENEZUELA, LUISA ORTEGA, SAYING: "I'm going to keep working for the liberty of Venezuela, for democracy in this country. We deserve a free country, a decent country, not one that's run by people with questionable morality and questionable decency. I'll keep fighting for the rights of Venezuelans, I'm going to keep fighting so that in our country there will be peace, liberty, benefits, rights, and that rights exist for all Venezuelans." ORTEGA SEATED AT INTERVIEW WITH CAMERA IN FOREGROUND (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) FORMER CHIEF PROSECUTOR OF VENEZUELA, LUISA ORTEGA, SAYING: "I can't talk about my strategy because they would be at risk, even I would be at risk. I do not know what dark purpose and dark plans they may have, not only to deprive me of my freedom, but also deprive me of my life. I don't know what their (the government's) plans are and now with this Constituent Assembly that has requested superpowers, divine powers, I don't know where they'll take those powers." ORTEGA SEATED AT INTERVIEW, TALKING AND GESTURING (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) FORMER CHIEF PROSECUTOR OF VENEZUELA, LUISA ORTEGA, SAYING: "I've been condemned, they prohibit me from leaving the country, my accounts have been frozen, prohibition of disposing and taxing (property), which is to say, they condemned me and I haven't been able to have access to the case file heard in the Supreme Court." ORTEGA SEATED AT INTERVIEW WITH CAMERA IN FOREGROUND
- Embargoed: 24th August 2017 19:00
- Keywords: Venezuela Nicolas Maduro chief prosecutor fiscal Luisa Ortega opposition constituent assembly
- Location: CARACAS, VENEZUELA
- City: CARACAS, VENEZUELA
- Country: Venezuela
- Topics: Fundamental Rights/Civil Liberties,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA0016TKRE4N
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Venezuela's recently dismissed chief prosecutor said on Thursday (August 10) she feared for her life though would continue fighting for the country after being fired last week by a controversial new legislative superbody. Luisa Ortega, who broke with President Nicolas Maduro in late March and became a vocal critic of his unpopular government, spoke to Reuters from a Caracas safe house after being fired on Saturday (August 5).
The pro-government Supreme Court has also said that a trial could begin against her, but no she has not formally been charged. Still, the 59-year-old said she was on the run as if she had been condemned in a trial, swapping safe houses at least once a day. "I do not know what dark purpose and dark plans they may have, not only to deprive me of my freedom, but also deprive me of my life," said Ortega, sitting on a sofa in a safe house. "I'm being permanently persecuted. There's always a car following me, stopping where I stop, people taking photos of me and the places I go."
On Saturday, Ortega's office was surrounded by government troops and she was barred from entering. She fled on the back of a motorbike before being fired formally by the pro-government legislative body, in what critics called a blatant affront to democracy.
Her firing comes as the Supreme Court steps up the prosecution of opposition politicians, including five opposition mayors in recent days. Officials have leveled a plethora of accusations against the lawyer, from "insanity" and encouraging "terrorists" to misusing a confiscated plane. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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