圣安东尼奥德洛斯阿尔托斯——一位前委内瑞拉法官于10月8日向法新社透露，她因政府威胁而签署了禁止反对派领袖玛丽亚·科琳娜·马查多参加选举的决定，这一揭露重新激起了推翻禁令的呼声。
SAN ANTONIO DE LOS ALTOS – A former Venezuelan judge told AFP on Oct 8 that she signed off on banning opposition leader Maria Corina Machado from elections due to government threats, a revelation that has renewed demands to overturn the ban.
巴巴拉·塞萨尔·西埃罗（Barbara Cesar Siero）曾于2014年12月至2024年2月担任最高法院法官，她表示，她的两位兄弟和嫂子——都是军人——在2023年12月被逮捕，目的是迫使她签署禁令。
Barbara Cesar Siero, a Supreme Court justice from December 2014 to February 2024, said that two of her brothers and her sister-in-law, all military personnel, were arrested in December 2023 in an attempt to force her to sign the ban.
“我心里想：也许如果我签字，他们会把他们放了……结果他们仍然被关押，”51岁的塞萨尔对法新社说。
“I thought to myself: maybe if I sign, they’ll give them back... I ended upg, and they kept them in detention,” Cesar, 51, told AFP.
马查多在2023年赢得了反对派初选，准备在次年选举中挑战时任总统尼古拉斯·马杜罗，但禁令阻止她正式成为候选人。
Machado won an opposition primary in 2023 to take on then-president Nicolas Maduro in the following year’s election, but the ban prevented her from formally being named as a candidate.
她的党派临时指定了鲜为人知的外交官埃德蒙多·冈萨雷斯·乌鲁蒂亚（Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia）作为她的替代人选。
Her party designated Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, a little-known diplomat, as her replacement at short notice.
马杜罗最终被宣布为2024年7月投票的获胜者，但反对派声称选举存在舞弊，且结果未被大多数国际社会承认。
Maduro was eventually declared the winner of the July 2024 vote, but the opposition claimed it was marred by fraud and the results were not recognised by much of the international community.
今年1月，马杜罗被美军捕获并带到纽约，面临贩毒等指控。华盛顿称此行动部分是基于有争议的选举而正当。“非法决定”塞萨尔的言论促使马查多的反对党呼吁立即解除她的参选资格限制。
In January, Maduro was captured by the US military and taken to New York to face drug trafficking and other charges, in an operation that Washington said was justified in part due to the disputed election. ‘Illegal decisions’Cesar’s comments prompted Machado’s opposition party to call for the immediate lifting of her ineligibility to run for office.
“玛丽亚·科琳娜·马查多的资格被剥夺，从一开始就是非法的……仅凭把法官的亲属作为人质就实现了这一点……必须立即解除这种资格限制，”Vente党在声明中写道。
“Maria Corina Machado’s ineligibility, illegal from the outset... was only achieved by using relatives of a judge \as hostages... This ineligibility must be lifted IMMEDIATELY,” the Vente party wrote in a statement.
政府“逮捕并惩罚家属以摧毁个人意志。在本案中，迫使最高法院法官签署非法决定”，Vente党补充道，并呼吁进行紧急调查。
The government used “arresting and punishing family members to break someone’s will. In this case, forcing a Supreme Court justice to sign illegal decisions”, added Vente, which called for an urgent investigation.
2023年12月，在亲属被捕之后，塞萨尔表示，她当时被要求签署九份文件，其中包括禁止马查多活动的命令。
In December 2023, after her relatives were arrested, Cesar said she was brought nine orders to sign, including the ban on Machado.
“那时候，任何发声的人都会被关进监狱，”塞萨尔说，“而我可能采取的行动，也会给他们带来后果。”她的亲属被指控策划暗杀马杜罗和塔奇拉州州长，但这一指控是捏造出来的。
“At that time, anyone who spoke out was put in prison,” Cesar said. “And what I might do could have consequences for them.”Her relatives were accused of plotting to kill Maduro and the governor of Tachira in a fabricated case.
塞萨尔的一位兄弟至今仍被拘留。她的另一位兄弟和嫂子目前则在司法监督下获得自由。
One of Cesar’s brothers is still in detention. Her other brother and sister-in-law are now free under judicial supervision.
塞萨尔认为，她的国家并不存在司法独立，并表示2024年宣布马杜罗获胜的结果“确实不符合法律”。
Cesar believes there is no independence of the judiciary in her country, saying that the proclamation of Maduro’s victory in 2024 was “truly not in accordance with the law”.
“从那一刻起，所有权力都变得完全不合法了，”塞萨尔说，并补充道，她将临时总统德尔西·罗德里格斯承诺的司法改革视为徒劳。
“From that point on, all powers became illegitimate, completely,” Cesar said, adding that she views the judicial reforms promised by interim president Delcy Rodriguez as futile.
“真正需要做的是，不受任何干涉地按照法律原文来执行法律。让法官做法官，州长做州长，市长做市长，”她说。
“What needs to be done is to apply the laws as they are written, without interference. Let the judges be judges, the governor be governor, the mayor be mayor,” she said.