Leocenis García has been accused of defamation and "incitement to hatred".
(IPYS-Venezuela/IFEX) – On 1 September 2011, a Caracas Metropolitan Area court determined that the editor of the weekly magazine “Sexto Poder”, Leocenis García, was to be incarcerated pending his trial on charges of defamation and “incitement to hatred”.
Defence lawyer Pedro Aranguren said he will appeal the decision and insist that García should be not be incarcerated before and during the trial since he is being accused of “crimes of opinion”.
Meanwhile, García’s relatives denounced the fact that the journalist, who is being held at the Bolivarian Intelligence Service (SEBIN) headquarters in Caracas, is being kept in solitary confinement.
The editor turned himself in on 30 August at the headquarters of the National Guard’s Regional Command in Maracaibo, in the state of Zulia, western Venezuela, after a warrant for his arrest was issued following the publication of a photomontage that caricaturised female government officials.
