Published by New York Times

A jailed judge at the center of one of the country’s most prominent human rights cases was put on trial on Wednesday nearly three years after being charged with corruption and abuse of power. The judge, María Lourdes Afiuni, refused to enter the courtroom, and the judge presiding over her case ordered the trial to proceed without her. Ms. Afiuni was arrested in December 2009 after ruling that a jailed businessman should be freed while awaiting trial, a move that angered President Hugo Chávez. Ms. Afiuni’s lawyer had revealed in recent days that she was raped while in prison in 2010, became pregnant and had an abortion. A prison official said there was no rape.