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Venezuela mulls 'law against intolerance' aimed at dissentersVenezuela's chief prosecutor Tarek William Saab talks to the media during a news conference in Caracas, Venezuela August 16, 2017.
Hugh Bronstein | August 16, 2017
CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelans who express "hate or intolerance" will be jailed for up to 25 years under a bill pending in the country's newly-formed constituent assembly, a measure the opposition fears will be used by the government to further crack down on dissent.
President Nicolas Maduro has faced a cacophony of international criticism, from the United Nations to Pope Francis, since he installed the 545-member assembly stacked with Socialist Party allies earlier this month.
The OPEC member nation has been rocked by anti-government unrest that has left more than 120 people dead while the country sinks further into a recession compounded by triple-digit inflation and acute food shortages.
Maduro defends the new legislative superbody as Venezuela's only hope for peace and prosperity.
"The question is whether this is the peace he's looking for: creating a law that gives him and his obedient supreme court judiciary powers to lock up dissidents for 25 years," Tamara Taraciuk, head Venezuela researcher for Human Rights Watch, said in a Wednesday telephone interview.
"The proposal includes incredibly vague language that would allow them to jail anyone for almost anything," she added.
Local rights group Penal Forum estimated the government was holding 676 political prisoners as of Wednesday, a number that could rise once the hate crimes measure becomes law.
The assembly on Wednesday empanelled a "Truth Commission" headed by Maduro loyalist and former Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez, to prosecute those responsible for violent anti-government protests.
Rodriguez said the assembly will have "a cleansing effect" on the country. "We have seen tweets, messages on social networks and photographs of opposition leaders responsible for convening and organizing violent events in Venezuela," Rodriguez told the assembly.
"As a consequence we have decided to open an investigation into those who are responsible," she added.
'ENTRENCHED IMPUNITY'
In its first session after being elected on July 30, the assembly fired Venezuela's top prosecutor Luisa Ortega and appointed a Maduro loyalist to replace her.
With chief prosecutor Ortega, who had accused Maduro of human rights abuses, out of the way, the assembly on Tuesday ordered that cases of protesters detained this year be held in civilian rather than military courts.
The Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists said in a report on Wednesday that Ortega's dismissal "removes one of the last remaining institutional checks on executive authority."
The country's new chief prosecutor, Maduro's ex-human rights ombudsman Tarek Saab, on Wednesday outlined corruption accusations against his predecessor Ortega, her husband and members of her team of prosecutors.
The opposition, in control of the original congress, boycotted the election of the assembly, meaning that all candidates for the new body were Maduro allies.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-venezuela-politics-idUSKCN1AW2A1
>socialists asking for laws against "intolerance" so they could redefine "intolerance" to include anything the dont like
im noticing a trend here