Overview
- Gallo, who filed Friday, asked Argentina’s federal court to recognize him as a victim and private accuser in the case that targets Nicolás Maduro and senior officials for alleged crimes against humanity.
- He was arrested on December 8, 2024, and spent 448 days in Venezuela’s El Rodeo I prison, where he reports psychological torture, isolation from visits, and no regular communication.
- He says his filing seeks justice for his own ordeal and presses for the release of political detainees in Venezuela, as rights group Foro Penal reports more than 540 releases after recent shifts in power but about 560 people still jailed.
- The Argentine investigation opened in 2023 and names Maduro, Diosdado Cabello, and others for alleged widespread abuses since at least 2014, using universal jurisdiction, which lets courts pursue grave crimes committed abroad when there is no real prosecution at home.
- Maduro is detained in New York on U.S. narcoterrorism and cocaine trafficking charges after a high‑profile capture, and recent court hearings in late March kept that case moving as releases of prisoners in Venezuela continued.