Defense attorney: "Velásquez Alvaray's statements confirm decay of the TSJ"

"The statements of Luis Velásquez Alvaray confirmed decay in the administration of justice in the country," said José Luis Tamayo, the defense attorney of former police commissioners Iván Simonovis, Henry Vivas, Lázaro Forero and six former Caracas Metropolitan Police agents who were sentenced to prison for the events of April 11, 2002 that briefly ousted President Hugo Chávez. Velásquez Alcaray affirmed in an interview with SoiTv, a Miami-based channel that the sentence against the former police officers and agents was ordered by top government officials.

"José Vicente Rangel ordered that the commissioners were sentenced to 30 years in prison," Velásquez Alvaray emphasized in the interview. Tamayo noted that he was not surprised by the statements, but he admitted that he was astounded by the confirmation that the commissioners "were convicted despite the fact that there was no evidence of their guilt."

Tamayo labeled former Justices Velásquez Alvaray and Eladio Aponte Aponte as "coward" and "immoral" for waiting nine years before pleading their complicity.