Court strikes down homicide charges against shooting suspects

<a href=www.sfgate.com>SFGate.com Tuesday, April 1, 2003
(04-01) 20:17 PST CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) --

A court tossed out homicide charges Tuesday against four suspects in shootings that killed 19 people and helped trigger a short-lived coup against President Hugo Chavez last year.

Dozens of Chavez supporters celebrated the ruling with fireworks outside the courthouse in the central city of Maracay, 40 miles from Caracas, the state-run Venezolana de Television channel reported.

The suspects, all Chavez supporters, were released. They had pleaded innocent to the charges.

Gunfire broke out April 11, 2002, when a massive opposition march clashed with a pro-government rally in downtown Caracas. The shootings spurred a bloodless military coup that briefly ousted the leftist Chavez.

Loyalists in the military returned Chavez to power two days after the uprising.

Venezuela remains divided over Chavez's continued rule since the mid-April rebellion.

Government opponents accuse the former paratrooper of riding roughshod over democratic institutions and dragging this South American nation of 24 million into chaos with ill-defined economic policies.

Chavez claims Venezuela's opposition, including leading labor and business groups, are leading an "economic coup" with the intention of overthrowing his revolutionary government.

The judges on Tuesday did uphold lesser charges -- of improper firearm use and public intimidation -- against the four.

But defense attorney Amado Molina said they were granted conditional freedom.