Facing a Hearing, Venezuelan Attorney General Blocked from Leaving Country

Venezuela's Supreme Court of Justice approved to the freezing of the property assets of Attorney General Luisa Ortega Diaz and have prohibited her from leaving the country.

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The court's decision is a precautionary measure as the court moves forward with the process of putting Ortega to trial and removing her from the judicial body.

A hearing has been set for July 4 to determine whether the Attorney General should be put to trial for professional malpractice.

Venezuelan legislator Pedro Carreño has accused Ortega of lying when she said that she had not supported the pre-selection of 33 Supreme Court judges in December 2015.

Ortega claimed “lack of legitimacy of origin” in the appointment of judges as part of her petition to the Supreme court to have the magistrates removes. After the top attorney's claims were submitted,  Venezuelan Ombudsman Tarek William Saab publicly demonstrated the record of the meeting appointing the judges, with the Attorney General's signature.

The opposition accuses the magistrates of acting under the control of the executive.

Ortega Diaz has also attempted to put a halt to the democratic Constituent Assembly process called for by President Nicolas Maduro as a way of rewriting the constitution to resolve the country's ongoing political crisis.

The obstructive petition also filed by Ortega was rejected by the Supreme Court.

She has been accused of being a “political activist of the right,” by Carreño.

Following the helicopter attack on Venezuela's Supreme Court building earlier this week which was condemned by President Maduro as a “terrorist attack,” and attempted coup, the Attorney General accused Maduro's government of engaging in “state terrorism,” and “violating” the constitution.

Over the course of this year's ongoing right-wing opposition protests, Ortega Diaz has shifted from being a supporter of the Bolivarian government, and even being a target of Washington sanctions, to being a political actor praised by opposition forces.