Juan Requesens
CARACAS, July 3 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A judge in Venezuela has announced that imprisoned lawmaker Juan Requesens will face trial for allegedly trying to kill President Nicolás Maduro in 2018.
Requesens was arrested three days after a drone carrying explosives blew up at a military parade attended by Maduro on Aug 4.
The opposition politician, who denies the charges, could face 30 years in prison if found guilty.
President Maduro was not hurt in the attack.
A former student leader who organised anti-government protests in 2014, Juan Requesens was elected to Venezuela’s legislative, the National Assembly, in 2015.
The 30-year-old is a member of the opposition Primero Justicia (Justice First) party and a vocal opponent of President Maduro.
Requesens faces two charges of attempted murder. He has also been accused of terrorism, treason, public incitement, illegal possession of a firearm, and conspiracy to commit a crime.
His lawyer, Joel García, said he had pleaded not guilty to all of them.
During the parade last August in the capital Caracas, a small drone carrying explosives detonated in the air not far from the stage where the president and the top officers of the military where standing.
Maduro’s bodyguards rushed to protect the president with foldable shields and ushered him away. The president and those on stage were unhurt.
Panic broke out among the soldiers on parade with many running for cover. Seven members of the National Guard were injured in the melee.
A second drone crashed into a nearby apartment block, injuring a child.
Maduro was quick to blame Requesens and another Primero Justicia politician, Julio Borges, for the drone attack. He said other suspects in the case had implicated the two lawmakers.
Borges, who was already living in exile at the time, dismissed the accusation as a “farce”. — NNN-AGENCIES
