53
186. The Court verifies that Mayela León, in the affidavit she rendered,146 as well as in the
statement rendered before the 20º Trial Court of Caracas147 gave a version of the facts that
coincides with the version of the Commission. The video furnished by the Commission is
part of the transmission of a Globovisión newscast, in which there appears a group of
people without doing anything in particular; then, there is another group of people shouting
with little percussion instruments and following, there appears Mayela León and Jorge Paz,
narrating the alleged facts.148
187. Regarding these facts, several complaints were lodged with the Venezuelan
authorities149 and furthermore, the criminal complaint was filed eleven days after the
incident. The proceedings conducted, according to the State, consisted in interviews with
the alleged victims. The State has not furnished items of evidence proving these and other
procedures for taking evidence, neither did it inform on proceedings conducted after that
date; therefore, the Court notes an unwarranted procedural inactivity on the part of the
Attorney General’s Office of more than 6 years.
188. The Court deems that the evidence tendered allows considering that Mayela León
and Jorge Paz were prevented from continuing with their jobs by a group of unidentified
private individuals under the circumstances above mentioned.
*
*
*
189. The Commission mentioned that on February 18, 2002 unidentified people would
have damaged a vehicle of Globovisión.150 The State argued that the complaint regarding
this fact was lodged a year and a month after the incident.
190. This fact was reported before the 2° Public Prosecutor's Office of the Attorney
General’s Office of the Judicial District of Caracas Metropolitan Area on March 10, 2003 and
that among the proceedings already initiated, it can be mentioned the interviews conducted
show that “we felt we were surrounded […] I’ve never felt like that before […] when I tried to pick up the camera
they became more aggressive.”
146
Cf. affidavit rendered by Mayela León Rodríguez on April 15, 2008 (records of evidence, volume XXXIII,
pages 8768-8772).
147
Cf. Request for justification of June 17, 2003, filed with the 20º Municipal Court of Caracas Metropolitan
Area containing the declaration of Mayela León Rodríguez (records of evidence, volume IV, page 896).
148
During the newscast, Mayela León mentioned that she “was nicely escorted (…) by people of the
Presidential guard to the van". In the video, there appears a group of people shouting "out, out" to a man shouting
"tell the truth" and another person shouting "traitors, traitors" and then more people shouting “liars, traitors”. Cf.
video (appendix 3 to the application)
149
Cf., Complaint lodged with the National Directorate of Common Crimes on January 31, 2002 (records of
evidence, volume IV, appendix 7 to the application 7, pages 931-963). Complaint lodged with the 2º Public
Prosecutor’s Office of the Judicial District of Caracas Metropolitan Area on March 10, 2003 (records of evidence,
volume IV, appendix 8 to the application, pages 964-975) and complaint filed with the Ombudsman on February 1,
2002 (records of evidence, volume IV, appendix 9 to the application, pages 977-1023).
150
The Commission allegad in the application that “On February 18, 2002, unidentified individuals broke the
windows of a van bearing a Globovisión logo that was parked while reporter Jhonny Ficarella, cameraman John
Power, and assistant Miguel Ángel Calzadilla covered a story”.
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