Journalist's Preventive Detention Upheld by Venezuelan Court

A court in the Venezuelan state of Táchira upheld (available only in Spanish) a lower court's decision to keep journalist Gustavo Azócar (below) in preventive detention because of fraud and swindle charges.

(Photo by megaresistencia.com)

Azócar, who calls himself "the first journalist imprisoned by the Hugo Chávez Revolution," was imprisoned after a years-long criminal process for fraud and swindle charges related to the purchase of ads for his TV station. The charges have been repeatedly found baseless.

Azócar, a correspondent for the national daily El Universal in the Western city of San Cristóbal, insists the charges and his imprisonment are nothing but retribution for his criticism of the Chávez administration.

Venezuela's journalists union has demanded his immediate release and called his case a "perverse judicial situation."