Poster with the face of Alex Saab on a Caracas street. It reads "free Alex Saab, no more sanctions, no more blockade, Venezuela should be respected, freedom!" File photo.
The United States “justice system” has postponed, once again, the hearing of Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab in Miami. Judge Robert Scola, who is handling the case in which Saab’s diplomatic status is at issue, postponed the hearing from October 31 to December.
With Saab’s unlawful incarceration—in a Florida detention center known for its history of prisoner mistreatment—reaching almost one year, US courts have revealed their political bias, amid a lack of evidence to convict Saab.
The decision to postpone the hearing comes as the US Department of Justice continues to refuse to admit classified documents that would likely prove that the United States knew of Alex Saab’s status as a diplomat.
Update: Judge Scola pushes to December a hearing on Alex Saab’s purported status as a Venezuelan diplomat.
The delay comes as prosecutors resist Saab attorneys’ demand they search @DeptofDefense and other agencies for documents they claim will prove his status as a special envoy
— Joshua Goodman (@APjoshgoodman) September 13, 2022
The Saab judicial process has been subjected to US internal politics and interests. In fact, the US Department of Justice requested that federal judge Scola prevent the diplomat’s defense from presenting his witnesses through videos.
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This measure by Saab’s defense would allow for the testimony of many witnesses who are prohibited from traveling to the US, because the US administration continues to deny them travel permits as part of its illegal coercive measures—euphemistically referred to as sanctions—on Venezuela.
Alex Saab’s witnesses, who would provide uncontestable evidence of his diplomatic status, would have included a fellow Venezuelan diplomat and a member of the National Guard, his bodyguard.
In total, Alex Saab has been deprived of his liberty for 823 days, since he was abducted on US orders on the African island of Cape Verde, where he made a stop to refuel the plane in which he was flying to Iran, in order to carry out a diplomatic mission to secure much-needed supplies for Venezuelans struggling against the dual challenges of the US blockade and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Of this time, 322 days has been spent detained in the United States, since October 16, 2021, when he was extracted from Cape Verde to the US, a procedure that is considered illegal because it did not followed Cape Verdean legal procedures.
(RedRadioVE) by Ana Perdigón, with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SL
