Venezuelan Woman Receives Decade-Long Sentence for Private WhatsApp Criticism
A Venezuelan court has sentenced Verónica Andreina Rojas Soto, 44, to 10 years in prison after finding her guilty of inciting hatred for a critical comment made about the government of nicolás Maduro in a private WhatsApp conversation.
According to a report by El Tequeño newspaper, Rojas Soto was arrested three months prior to the sentencing for the comment exchanged wiht a freind, who was also initially detained but later released. Rojas soto was prosecuted, convicted, and has since been transferred to the Los Teques Women’s Penitentiary Center.
The severity of the sentence has prompted a plea for review from Rojas Soto’s daughter, Karelys Rojas, who currently resides in Portugal. “My mother is a woman of the home, dedicated to her husband and my younger sister who is 15. She does not represent any danger to society. he only expressed an opinion in private,” Karelys Rojas told El Tequeño.
Family members have also expressed concern for Rojas Soto’s health, noting she suffers from circulatory problems that could be exacerbated by imprisonment. They describe the 10-year sentence as disproportionate to the alleged offense.
The Rojas family had been planning a trip to Portugal to reunite with Karelys last July, but those plans were halted by Verónica Rojas Soto’s arrest. They are now appealing to authorities to reconsider the sentence.