Venezuela sentences two PDVSA managers for divulging confidential information

Venezuela has sentenced two managers of state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela to five years in prison on charges of divulging confidential information, chief prosecutor Tarek Saab wrote on Twitter on Friday. Authorities had arrested Aryenis Torrealba and Alfredo Chirinos, from PDVSA's supply and trading department, in February 2020 on allegations that they had leaked information to the U.S. government, which in 2019 sanctioned PDVSA as part of Washington's push to oust President Nicolas Maduro.

Venezuela has sentenced two managers of state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela to five years in prison on charges of divulging confidential information, chief prosecutor Tarek Saab wrote on Twitter on Friday.

Authorities had arrested Aryenis Torrealba and Alfredo Chirinos, from PDVSA's supply and trading department, in February 2020 on allegations that they had leaked information to the U.S. government, which in 2019 sanctioned PDVSA as part of Washington's push to oust President Nicolas Maduro. Family members of both Torrealba and Chirinos have said the two are innocent.

"These officials leaked sensitive and confidential information related to the oil industry, which brought as a consequence the imposition of sanctions by the United States government," Saab wrote in a statement posted on Twitter, noting that the trial had included seven hearings. Torrealba's and Chirinos' parents have said both they and their children were supporters of the socialist "revolution" launched by Maduro's predecessor and mentor, the late President Hugo Chavez. But they argued that their children were singled out for speaking out against corruption in PDVSA.

The Venezuelan opposition and the U.S. government argue that Maduro has used the country's justice system to silence critics.