UN says Venezuelan court is Maduro’s tool in coup against constitutional order
Geneva — Venezuela’s supreme court has progressively dismantled the rule of law, becoming an instrument of President Nicolas Maduro’s government in what amounts to a coup against the constitutional order, an international human rights group charged on Tuesday. The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) said the top court had undermined human rights and infringed the constitution through a series of rulings since December 2015. In two rulings in March 2017, the supreme court of justice "effectively claimed legislative powers for itself, depriving the national assembly of its constitutional powers and granting sweeping arbitrary powers to the executive", it said. "These decisions amount to a coup d’état against the constitutional order and have ushered in a new reign of arbitrary rule," Sam Zarifi, ICJ secretary-general, said in a statement. Judges on the supreme court are mainly from the ruling socialist party and/or former officials of the government of Maduro, the Geneva-based j...
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