WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th June, 2020) ASHINGTON, June 5 (Sputnik), Barrington M. Salmon - Activists arrested inside the Venezuelan Embassy in the United States told Sputnik that the Federal judge presiding over their case violated international law, misled the jury and showed bias in favor of opposition figure Juan Guaido.
On Thursday, US District Court Chief Judge Beryl Howell dropped federal charges against the four activists - Kevin Zeese, Margaret Flowers, Adrienne Pine and David Paul, who are part of the Embassy Protection Collective. They were arrested inside the embassy on May 19, 2019 while trying to prevent the Venezuelan opposition from taking over.
"The ruling fiction was that within Judge Howell's courtroom Guaido is president. And who the US president says is president of another country stands," Pine, an American University anthropology professor, said. "It is the absurd fiction of the judicial and executive branches. They are propping up imperialism - Mickey Mouse could be president and they'd support him. International law had no bearing in that courtroom."
Under a negotiated agreement, the US dropped the federal charge of interfering with embassy protective services in exchange for pleading guilty to a local Washington, DC misdemeanor violation of "incommoding" which Zeese said is basically causing a disturbance. Originally they faced a one-year jail term and $100,000 fine each, and are now serving six months of probation.
"What happened was we had a trial and the judge totally worked the court - misled the jury and totally manipulated the courtroom throughout the trial," said Zeese, a lawyer, advocate and one of the organizers of the Occupy movement in Washington, DC in 2011.
The Embassy Protection Collective began living inside the embassy in April of last year with the blessing of the Venezuelan government. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza and other members of the elected government, including President Nicolas Maduro, expressed their full support for the US peace activists.
The night of the arrests, a State Department official told Sputnik that the activists were arrested for "trespassing." However, Article 22 of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations stipulates that the premises of a diplomatic mission, such as an embassy, are inviolable, and the host country must not enter except by permission of the head of mission.
In January of 2019, Juan Guaido declared himself interim president of Venezuela and was instantly recognized by the United States. Maduro accused Guaido of being a US puppet who was trying to overthrow the government to seize the country's natural resources.
