National Court decided to keep former Venezuelan general Hugo Armando Carvajal in preventive detention.Formerly known as El Pollo Carvajal “more than obvious flight risk”given that he has been in the process of search and capture for almost two years and the decision to extradite him to the US is “final” although pending.
Court thus rejecting the request made by the head of military counterintelligence in the governments of Venezuelan presidents Hugo Chavez and Nicolás Maduro this week. asked to be released After spending a year in makeshift prison, he is awaiting extradition to the United States for his drug trafficking crimes to be formalized.
A delivery that was adopted by the National Supreme Court three years ago in 2019 and is currently pending after Carvajal appealed to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
In the instruction issued this Thursday, the Chamber stated that the ECtHR judgment this is not a new topichowever, he emphasizes that his previous deprivation of liberty had already been taken into account and that, being aware of the decision of this court not to extradite the requested person until the proceedings were concluded, it had decided to give priority.
The judges remind the former general that he has been in precautionary detention for less than a year, after being searched for nearly two years. The deadlines set by law have not been exceeded.
First of all, the Chamber states that “more than the obvious risk of the existing flight, which has never been inactivated, to prevent delivery from taking place”, stating that this is only suspended until the ECtHR decides.
But at the same time, as the court underlined, this risk of escape not only persists, but also It increased because the delivery decision “final” having refused asylum and international protection requests. Only the decision of the ECtHR remains.
For all these reasons, the Court “not only necessary, but also necessary” Continuing in temporary prison, a measure that Pollo Carvajal considers “proportionate”.
His surrender was granted in 2019, but he was no longer found until September 2021, when the Department went to execute it, when the defendant was found in an apartment in Madrid with the help of the US DEA.
when arrested and prisoner sentencedThe magistrates agreed to paralyze the delivery because the initial asylum claim was not resolved and was eventually denied.
His lawyer, who tried to stop the extradition with every possible source, applied for a second asylum request, which would continue his journey through appeal, despite being rejected by the Internal Affairs again.
karvajal requested by the USA For crimes tantamount to being a member of a criminal organization in Spain or being a member of or cooperating with a terrorist organization and drug trafficking in its aggravated form.