UN experts: Venezuelan judiciary has big role in repression

By JAMEY KEATEN
Associated Press

GENEVA (AP) — Experts working under the U.N.’s top human rights body say Venezuela’s judicial system has played a “significant role” in the state’s repression in the country that has involving widespread allegations of rights violations. One defendant cited in a new report released Thursday cited use of a tactic employed by the Nazis to exert pressure on detainees by seizing their relatives. The experts say the judicial system has allowed repeated rights violations against opponents of President Nicolas Maduro’s government. They have included allegations of enforced disappearance, torture — including sexual violence — and arbitrary killing.