BBC News, 14
June 2013
 |
| Maria Lourdes Afiuni is banned from leaving the country or speaking to reporters |
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The
Venezuelan authorities have ended the house arrest of a judge held on
corruption charges since 2009.
A lawyer
for Maria Lourdes Afiuni said a court in Caracas rescinded the detention order
on health grounds after a request from the attorney general.
The
50-year-old judge has reportedly been suffering kidney problems.
She has
been on trial since November for corruption, abuse of authority and aiding an
inmate's escape, but has dismissed proceedings as rigged.
Opposition
leaders consider her to be Venezuela's highest-profile political prisoner,
while human rights groups and international organisations have called her
detention arbitrary and demanded her release.
Ms Afiuni
was arrested on the day she authorised the conditional release of banker Eligio
Cedeno who had spent almost three years in prison awaiting trial - a year
longer than Venezuelan law generally permitted. Mr Cedeno later fled the
country.
The day
after the judge's arrest, President Hugo Chavez publicly called her a
"bandit" who should be sentenced to 30 years in prison.
She was
subsequently placed in pre-trial detention for more than a year in a prison,
where her lawyer said she was the victim of sexual violence.
In February
2011, Ms Afiuni was granted house arrest in Caracas because of the serious
medical conditions she was suffering.
To comply
with the conditions of her release, she must report to the court in the capital
every 15 days and is banned from leaving the country without permission or
speaking to the media.
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