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Trial Again Delayed for Venezuela Judge
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/trial-delayed-venezuela-judge-26865563-----------------------------
Maria Lourdes Afiuni was arrested in 2009 after then-President Hugo Chavez objected to her decision to free a banker awaiting trial on charges of violating currency controls. The banker then fled the country and sought asylum in the U.S.
The middle-aged judge was allowed to leave jail in 2011, and freed from house arrest in 2013 on medical grounds as she battles cancer. But she still faces charges of corruption, abuse of authority and aiding an inmate's escape.
She was scheduled to appear in court Wednesday, but the hearing was put off by the court. Her trial has now been suspended for more than a year and her attorneys argue that the delay itself is illegal.
Opposition leaders consider Afiuni among the country's highest-profile political prisoners. Human rights officials from the United Nations and international groups including Amnesty International have called for her freedom. Venezuela's government says it holds no political prisoners.