The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) started on Wednesday the final hearings as part of a complaint against the Venezuelan government filed by journalists working with private TV channel RCTV for alleged attacks and threats during the coverage of street demonstrations, said the court.

During the public hearing convened by IACHR President Cecilia Medina, witnesses, attorneys of both plaintiffs and the Venezuelan state and IACHR members will make their "final pleas," on the matter, AFP reported.

Attorneys on behalf of the Venezuelan state, Germán Sanstron and former Attorney General Isaías Rodríguez, briefed on Wednesday that they would claim that the alleged attacks and threats were not made by "state agents," but people who took part in the street protests in 2002, when Venezuela was undergoing a dramatic political polarization and a failed coup occurred.

Sanstron and Rodríguez lashed out at a presumed campaign launched against President Hugo Chávez by RCTV, news TV channel Globovisión and other Venezuelan media outlets. They also lamented that IACHR, based in Washington, had admitted more than 20 claims against the Venezuelan government since Chávez took office in 1999.