however, on October 29, 2007, the appeal was declared inadmissible by a decision of the Eighth Chamber of the Court of Appeal of the Criminal Judicial Circuit of the Metropolitan Area of Caracas, which declared that “actions can be taken during the criminal proceedings that require the presence of the accused, one of these being the remedy of appeal,” 112 and vi) On January 11, 2008, the representatives of Mr. Brewer Carías filed a request for dismissal before the Twenty-fifth Judge based on Decree No. 5,789, 113 which declared that amnesty was granted to “all those persons who, in conflict with the established order, and who at this date are in compliance with the law and have submitted to criminal proceedings, and who have been prosecuted and convicted for committing the following acts: […] the drafting of the April (12,) 2002, Decree of the Government de facto.” 114 91. In addition, the defense filed two briefs in which it requested the annulment of the proceedings at that date. In the Organic Code of Criminal Procedure, the causes of nullity are established in chapter II, articles 190 and 191, which establish that: Article 190 – Principle: acts that contravene or disregard the forms and conditions established in this Code, the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, the law, and the international treaties, conventions and agreements signed by the Republic, cannot be used as grounds for a judicial decision, using them as presumptions for this decision, unless the defect has been rectified or authorized. Article 191 – Absolute nullities: absolute nullities shall be those concerning the intervention, assistance and representation of the accused in the cases and ways established by this Code, or those that involve disregard or violation of fundamental rights and guarantees established in this Code, the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, the law, and international treaties, conventions and agreements signed by the Republic. 115 92. The defense counsel filed the first request for a declaration of nullity before the Twenty-fifth Court on October 4, 2005 (supra para. 59). They requested the annulment “of all the actions taken by the Public Prosecution Service.” 116 The grounds for this appeal were: (i) “[t]he […] Prosecutor General […] ha[d] published a book entitled ‘Abril comienza en octubre’”; (ii) in this book, the Prosecutor General had referred to certain statements provided by an individual according to which Mr. Brewer was the author of the “Carmona Decree”; (iii) “in his book, the Prosecutor General considered proved, admitted, affirmed […] that the person [they] represent supposedly had been in a meeting that he had not attended, had been drafting – together with other persons with whom he had never met – a document that he did not draft”; (iv) “the publication, and the reference to [Mr.] Brewer Carías – to a case in which the Prosecution Service had brought charges against him – that the Prosecutor General makes […] in his book […] constitutes a clear and flagrant violation of the right to the presumption of innocence of the person [they] are defending, as well as of all the principles of a criminal proceeding”; (v) “[i]t would be naïve for the Prosecutor 112 Ruling of the Court of Appeal of the Criminal Judicial Circuit of the Metropolitan Area of Caracas, Eighth Chamber of October 29, 2007. “Under out criminal procedure, there are actions that require the presence of the accused, and the remedy of appeal is one of them” (file of annexes to the Merits Report, tome IV, folio 6859). 113 Brief of the defense of January 11, 2008 (file of annexes to the answering brief, annex 1, exhibit 25, folios 20001 to 20012). 114 Decree No. 5,789 of December 31, 2007 (file of annexes to the report, tome IV, folios 1581 to 1587). 115 Articles 190 and 191 of the Organic Code of Criminal Procedure of Venezuela (file of annexes to the answering brief, tome I, folio 20631). 116 Brief of October 7, 2005, filed by the defense before the Twenty-fifth Judge (file of annexes to the answering brief, annex 1, exhibit 13, folios 14107 to 14128). 30