The judge who was arrested

Wednesday the 11th of February Judge Ali Fabricio Paredes was arrested in Venezuela. A day earlier the Judge sentenced the drug lord Walid “The Turk” Makled for 14 years in prison.

The now self arrested judge was charged with being “too lenient” in his ruling against the drug lord Makled. The drug lord was previously arrested in Colombia. Both the United States and Venezuela had requested his extradition. This the arrest was highly sensitive because Makled had indicated to release names of senior Venezuelan military officials who were involved in his drug trade. Eventually Makled got extradited to Venezuela and convicted there last week..

It was not the first time that a judge has been arrested in Venezuela. In 2009, Judge Maria Lourdes Afiuni was arrested. Subtle detail is that last week arrested judge was handling the case against the in 2009 arrested other judge. Mid-2013 Afiuni was released, but the charges against her are formally still there today.

Critics say that since the start of the current government in Venezuela there has never been a ruling at the expense of the government.