Noam Chomsky asks Hugo Chavez to release judge

[Bacchus39]

http://news.yahoo.com/noam-chomsky-asks-hugo-chavez-release-judge-202512508.html;_ylt=AjWoST5GC2vmuVhBs7ndcS63IxIF;_ylu=X3oDMTNhamx1bzZjBHBrZwM0NzgxYzk1Yy1lMzUwLTNjNWItYjkxNS1iYTAyZTJkMzgyY2UEcG9zAzE4BHNlYwNNZWRpYVRvcFN0b3J5BHZlcgM0MzAxM2ZiMC1hNjk4LTExZTAtYmI0Zi0wYjI0OWJlNzdkNjU-;_ylg=X3oDMTIxMWw3M3NuBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdAN3b3JsZHxsYXRpbiBhbWVyaWNhBHB0A3NlY3Rpb25z;_ylv=3



— One of President Hugo Chavez's most well-known inspirations, leftist intellectual Noam Chomsky, is challenging the Venezuelan leader on a key human rights case by asking him to release a judge detained since 2009.

In a public letter released over the weekend, Chomsky condemned the "degrading treatment" suffered by Judge Maria Lourdes Afiuni and declared himself in "total solidarity" with her.

Afiuni sparked the Chavez government's ire after she conditionally released banker Eligio Cedeno, who was charged with corruption. According to the organization Human Rights Watch, the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions declared Cedeno's detention arbitrary.

Venezuelan authorities arrested Afiuni after Cedeno's release and accused her of abuse of authority, corruption and "favoring the evasion of justice," Human Rights Watch said. Chavez called her "a bandit" and said she should receive a 30-year prison sentence, according to the group. She was held in a woman's prison, where she was repeatedly insulted and threatened.

[Bacchus39]

1. concentration of executive power is an assault on democracy

RC: Finally professor, the concerns about the concentration of executive power in Venezuela: to what extent might that be undermining democracy in Venezuela?

NC: Concentration of executive power, unless it's very temporary and for specific circumstances, let's say fighting world war two, it's an assault on democracy.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul/04/noam-chomsky-venezuela