Washington (EFE).- Judge Alvin Hellerstein, who is presiding over the criminal case against the former president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro (2013-2026), issued an order regulating the management of confidential material that the authorities will provide to the defense.
The order signed on Tuesday is based on a draft proposal from the United States Prosecutor General’s Office. The office considered a proof protection regime necessary due to the «risks» to witness safety and the integrity of the investigation.
Maduro’s and Cilia Flores’s defense requested that the prosecution hand over the evidence to which they are entitled before the trial, a phase known as «discovery.» This order effectively classifies and regulates all of that evidence.
One of the key consequences is that the defense is prohibited from sharing evidence with defendants who have not yet been detained, such as Diosdado Cabello, the Venezuelan Minister of the Interior, as the prosecution requested a week ago.
The other defendants not detained in the case are Ramón Rodríguez Chacín, the former Venezuelan Minister of the Interior; Nicolás Maduro Guerra, the son of the former president; and Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, also known as Niño Guerrero, the alleged leader of the criminal organization Tren de Aragua.
The text indicated that the material «may not be shared with any identified defendant who has not yet been detained in the framework of this procedure, nor with the lawyers of said defendants.»
The order also establishes that Maduro and Flores’s lawyers may use the material shared by the prosecution «for defense purposes only» and may not publish it on the Internet or social media nor disclose it to the media.
The prosecution may classify some of the evidence as highly confidential, which would require presenting it only in writing to the court. In some cases, only the lawyer and their staff can view the evidence, not the defendants.
In addition, the regulation of confidential material contained in the order does not cease upon the conclusion of the criminal case. The judge retains jurisdiction to enforce these provisions thereafter, as the text provides. EFE
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