加拉加斯——委内瑞拉临时总统德尔西·罗德里格斯于9月29日承认，该国的反仇恨法曾被“滥用”，该法律曾被用作逮捕数十名政府批评者的理由。
CARACAS - Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodriguez acknowledged on Sept 29 that there had been “abusive use” of the country’s anti-hate law, an instrument used to justify the arrests of dozens of government critics.
过去十年间，数十名政治领袖、活动家、记者、抗议者和网红因“煽动仇恨”罪名被依法起诉，该法规定刑期为10至20年监禁。
Over the past decade, dozens of political leaders, activists, journalists, protesters and influencers were accused of “incitement to hatred” under the law, which provides for prison sentences of 10 to 20 years.
罗德里格斯在总统尼古拉斯·马杜罗因美军军事行动被推翻后，于今年1月开始执政。在美国施压下，她推行大赦令，释放了数百名政治犯，其中许多人正是依据该法被定罪。非政府组织“刑事论坛”表示，仍有324名政治犯关押在狱中。
Rodriguez, who has governed since January after the ouster of president Nicolas Maduro in a US military operation, promoted an amnesty under pressure from Washington that has freed hundreds of political prisoners, many of whom had been convicted under this law. The NGO Foro Penal said that 324 political prisoners still remain behind bars.
罗德里格斯本人在2017年担任制宪议会主席时，曾主导该法的通过。但9月29日，她承认该法曾被“不当适用”。
Rodriguez herself was the one who oversaw passage of the law in 2017 when she was president of the Constituent Assembly. But on Sept 29, she acknowledged it was “improperly applied”.
她说：“那部法律被滥用了。”当时她正在该国西部波图格萨州与咖啡生产者举行会议。
There was abusive use of that law,” she said during a meeting with coffee producers in Portuguesa state, in the country’s west.
她表示，自己依然“相信那部法律的原则，即宽容原则、爱心原则，在我们彼此相处中，让仇恨不再盛行，而是能够共存。”稍早前，罗德里格斯在美方斡旋的政府与反对派议员政治对话下，请求国民议会修改该法。
She said she still believes “in the principles of that law, the principle of tolerance, the principle of love, in our relationships with one another, so that hatred does not prevail but rather that we can coexist.”Earlier, Rodriquez asked the National Assembly to reform the law as a result of US-sponsored political dialogue between the government and opposition lawmakers.
据总统致国民议会的一封信称，该改革旨在“推进该法所涵盖行为的非刑事化”，国民议会由她的兄弟豪尔赫·罗德里格斯领导。
The reform seeks to “move forward with the decriminalisation of the conduct covered” by the law, according to a letter sent by the president to the National Assembly, which is headed by her brother, Jorge Rodriguez.
反对派代表团在X平台发文称，反仇恨法“被用作迫害和镇压异见的工具”。他们补充道：“我们向其应用的受害者及其家属表示声援。”
The anti-hate law “was used as an instrument of persecution and repression of dissent,” the opposition delegation said on X following the announcement. “We express our solidarity with those who were victims of its application and with their families,” it added.
议会几小时后成立了一个委员会致力于改革，而非政府组织则要求彻底废除该法律。
Parliament created a commission hours later to work on reforms, while non-governmental organisations are demanding the law’s complete repeal.
人权观察在时隔近20年首次访问该国后，建议废除这项及其他法律。
Human Rights Watch has recommended that this and other laws be repealed, following its first visit to the country in nearly 20 years.