Alex Saab, Maduro’s alleged ringleader, is approved for extradition to the United States

September 7, 2021 – 9:00 p.m.

After being detained for a little over a year, the Constitutional Court of Cape Verde gave free rein to the extradition of Colombian businessman Alex Saab, alleged ringleader of Nicolás Maduro, who has been detained in this African country since June 2020. The high court rejected an appeal filed by the lawyers of the investigators seeking to curb its shipment to the United States, which could mean that, after being detained for a year, Saab could be sent to that state. American country. The American justice system points out this since 2019 to be one of the business leaders of the questioned Venezuelan government.

In June of that year, along with their partner Polished Alvaro, they were including in the Clinton List, indicated to be testaferros of the bureaucracy in Venezuela. For this time, the US Department of Justice. UU. He made public the accusation (Indictment) against Saab and Pulido on eight charges related to money laundering for $ 350 million product of corruption in construction contracts and others related to food importation, sale of oil and gold.

This decision of the Constitutional Court comes after in March 2021, in the second instance, the Supreme Court of Justice also gave the green light to his extradition. Since his arrest, Saab’s defense has insisted that international resolutions from major international human rights protection mechanisms, such as that of ECOWAS, which ordered his immediate release, or that of the United Nations Human Rights granted him a precautionary measure until the entire judicial process that has followed him is independently evaluated.

One of the latest legal moves by his lawyers was made on August 19 when they sued three judges and the African Attorney General for allegedly violating their rights on multiple occasions. Alex Saab denounced before the Superior Council of the Judiciary of Cape Verde it was these alleged errors that led to the approval of the request for extradition of the United States against the employer, according to the defense. The allegations state, for example, that “the time for pre-trial detention in prison was exceeded for about a hundred days.”

(Read also: UN asks Cape Verde to suspend extradition of Alex Saab)

The Saab case has been controversial because both the UN and an African regional court have ruled in its favor. In June 2021, the ECOWAS Tribunal, made up of West African States, upheld the ruling it had issued on March 15: his detention was illegal and he should therefore be released. immediate. He also noted that he cannot be extradited to the United States. A tug-of-war between lawyers, judges and public opinion that seems to have no end.

In June 2021, the UN asked Cape Verde to suspend the extradition of the barranquillero businessman who is required by US authorities. “In accordance with rule 94 of the rules of procedure of the Committee, the State party has been requested to refrain from extraditing Mr. Alex Nain Saab Moran to the United States while his case is being examined by the Committee. or until further notice. The State party has also been called upon to take all necessary measures to ensure access to adequate medical care, preferably by independent and specialized doctors, “the letter known to the newspaper said.

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The government of Nicolás Maduro has also moved to try to get Saab back in Venezuela. In December 2020, six months after his capture, this government awarded Alex Saab the title of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Alternate Permanent Representative of the Venezuelan Mission to the African Union, based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. ). Amid Saab’s imprisonment, Venezuelan Chancellor Jorge Arreaza called on the African Union to extradite him to Ethiopia “as soon as possible.”

According to the defense of Alex Saab, represented among others by lawyer Baltasar Garzón, in an interview with the spectator in 2020, the barranquillero businessman even enjoyed diplomatic immunity since 2018: “Mr. Saab is a political agent of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and, as such, has the right to immunity and inviolability enshrined in the Convention of Vienna, the United Nations Convention on Special Missions and customary international law. “

Although in theory Saab already exhausted all the judicial resources that it had to restrain his extradition, the truth is that in this scandal in which political interests of Venezuela, the United States and until Russia come together (that would have pressured judges in Cape before this last decision), nothing complies with normal procedures. Therefore, despite the judges’ decisions, until Saab steps into U.S. territory, his extradition will remain uncertain.