A Venezuelan opposition leader’s absurd sentence

WE’VE OFTEN written about one-sided political trials, which appear to be on the rise as a means of repression in unfree countries that attempt to maintain a veneer of international respectability. In recent months we’ve seen journalists and political activists cynically railroaded to prison in Azerbaijan, Egypt, Russia and elsewhere. But for sheer brazenness, nothing quite matches Venezuela’s prosecution of opposition leader Leopoldo López, who on Thursday was sentenced to nearly 14 years in prison. Mr. López, 44, is, like much of the opposition movement, a reason for hope in Venezuela’s future despite the country’s disastrous political and economic collapse under the regime founded by Hugo Chávez. A moderate leftist educated in the United States, Mr. López favors peaceful democratic change; in calling for anti-government protests last year, he gave several speeches calling on his supporters to act nonviolently. Not surprisingly, his popuarity in polls exceeds that of the current president, Nicolás Maduro, by more than 20 points. More…