From Reuters:
Three U.N. human rights experts on Wednesday accused President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela of creating a climate of fear among his country's legal profession with the arrest last week of a woman judge.
The three, all from developing countries, said Judge Maria Lourdes Afiuni was seized by police on December 10, a day after she ordered the conditional release of long-detained opposition politician Eligio Cedeno.
"Reprisals for exercising their constitutionally guaranteed functions and creating a climate of fear among the judiciary and lawyers' profession serve no purpose except to undermine the rule of law and obstruct justice," they said in a statement.
Opposition leaders often accuse the populist president of trying to reduce constitutional freedoms, but the former paratrooper argues that opponents work secretly with the United States to try and overthrow his elected government.
According to the statement, issued by the United Nations in Geneva, Judge Afiuni had based her decision to free Cedeno on a finding by the world body's working group on arbitrary detention in September that his right to a free trial was being violated.
