Joao de Gouveia (39) sentenced to 29 years and 11 months for Plaza Altamira killings

<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Tuesday, April 15, 2003 By: David Coleman

45th Control Court judge Alejandro Rebollo has sentenced 39-year-old Portuguese citizen Joao de Gouveia to 29 years and 11 months in prison for the qualified homicide of  innocent bystanders Jaime Giraud, Keila Guerra and Josefina Inciarte and the wounding of more than 28 others as hundreds of people attended an opposition rally in Plaza Altamira on December 6 last year after de Gouveia opened fire, killing three people and wounding 28 others.

The live-televised and blood-curdling shootings heightened tensions on the 5th day of an opposition led national stoppage aimed at forcing President Hugo Chavez Frias to resign or call an early referendum on his controversial rule.  Nine were killed during the two-month stoppage, which ended in failure early February with routed opposition saboteurs in disarray, in hiding from justice or already afforded asylum abroad.

The accused had been brought under heavy escort to the Palace of Justice in downtown Caracas from the La Planta prison at 4:00 a.m. to attend the hearing which began 2:30 p.m. Monday and continued through 6:00 p.m. when the verdict was made known.

Defense lawyer Carlos Bastidas says that de Gouveia opened proceedings by admitting that he had fired the shots but claimed that he was out of his mind at the time and asked forgiveness of the victims' families ... the sentence is to be published within 5 working days and defense attorneys have a further 5 days in which to appeal the length of sentence.

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