Dokument #1060361
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Autor)
The following information was obtained
during a 15 December 1998 telephone interview with and a 16
December 1998 e-mail from a professor of criminology at the
Catholic University Andrés Bello (Universidad
Católica Andrés Bello) in Caracas. The professor is
also director of Proyección a la Communidad, an
institute in charge of helping and studying various social groups
in difficulty in Venezuela, but mainly in Caracas. The institute,
which is linked to the Catholic University Andrés Bello,
also heads a project named Voluntariado de Trabajo
Penitenciario, which provides support to prisoners. The
director is one of Venezuela's leading specialists on the
penitentiary system and was an advisor to the congressional
legislative commission charged with studying various bills to
replace the Law of Vagrants and Crooks (Ley de Vagos y
Maleantes-LVM) after its repeal by the Supreme Court of
Justice.
She reported that she was unaware of any
case in which the police has used the LVM to arrest a suspect since
its repeal by the Supreme Court of Justice in November 1997.
Following further research she sent the Research Directorate an
electronic mail confirming that the police cannot use the LVM any
longer. She emphazised that it would be very difficult for any
police corps to use the LVM to arrest someone since "everybody
knows that the law has been repealed. A person could oppose being
arrested under that law on the legal ground that it no longer
exists and cannot be used." In her e-mail, the professor further
explained that a person arrested under the LVM at present could
"lodge a habeas corpus against the illegal deprivation of his/her
freedom based on the non-existence of the legal material to justify
it." ["se deberia recurrir a un Habeas Corpus por privación
ilegitima de la libertad con fundamento en la inexistencia material
legal para privar a alguien de su libertad."]
She stated that the repeal of the law has
been published in the Official Gazette (Gazeta Oficial) therefore
confirming its abandonment. In her e-mail, the professor described
four bills presented in the Congress for study from 1989 to 1995
which were intended to replace the LVM. None were adopted. The most
recent one since the repeal of the LVM is named "Bill on Social
Danger and Citizens' Protection" (Proyecto de ley Orgánica
Sobre Peligrosidad Social y Protección Ciudadana). It has
not been adopted either and its study is currently stalled.
An article from El Universal, one
of Venezuela's main newspapers, reports that 555 persons arrested
and emprisoned under the LVM had been freed from jail and had their
criminal record erased from the Ministry of Justice archives when
the law was repealed by Congress. (13 Nov. 1997)
The attached Dallas Morning News
article reports on the complete overhaul of Venezuela's criminal
justice system that is currently implemented.
This Response was prepared after
researching publicly accessible information currently available to
the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is
not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any
particular claim to refugee status or asylum.
References
Andrés Bello Catholic University,
Caracas. 15 December 1998. Telephone interview with a professor of
criminology.
_____. 16 December 1998. Electronic mail
from professor of criminology.
El Universal. 13 November 1997.
Angel Bermúdez. « Borran Antecedentes de Liberados
». [Internet] http://www.el-universal.com/1997/11/13/13112AA.shtml
[Consulted on 15 December 1998].
Attachment
The Dallas Morning News. 29
March 1998. Jane Bussey. "Criminal-Justice Revolution to Rock
Crumbling Venezuelan Court System." (NEXIS)
Additional Sources Consulted
Latinamerica Press
[Lima].1998.
Latin America Regional Reports
[London]: Andean Group Reports.1998.
Latin America Weekly Report
[London].1998.
Electronic sources: IRB Databases,
Global News Bank, Internet, REFWORLD, World News Connection (WNC),
VHeadline/VENews, El Nacional, El Universal.