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Venezuela Names Loyalist Sanctioned by US to Key Legal Post

by Associated Press

   CARACAS --

   Venezuela's supreme court has pushed aside the opposition-controlled
   congress with its own appointment of a deputy chief prosecutor: a
   government loyalist who was sanctioned by the U.S. for her role
   pursuing President Nicolas Maduro's opponents.
   Tuesday's decision to name Katherine Harrington to the post is another
   step undermining chief prosecutor Luisa Ortega Diaz.
   The high court is holding a hearing Tuesday on whether to strip Ortega
   Diaz of immunity from prosecution for unspecified irregularities.
   She's the nation's top law enforcement official and has broken with
   Maduro's government over its decision to strip congress of its powers
   and rewrite the constitution.
   The constitution says the semi-autonomous chief prosecutor has power to
   name her own deputy.