By Dan Molinski Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
CARACAS (Dow Jones)--Fifteen former Venezuelan police officers received prison sentences of between three years and 12 years each for the killings last year of two unionized workers at a local Mitsubishi Motors Corp. (MMTOY, 7211.TO) auto assembly plant, the Attorney General's Office said Monday.
The workers, Jose Javier Marcano and Pedro Suarez, died Jan. 29, 2009, when police fired upon them and other picketing employees of Mitsubishi local unit MMC Automotriz, located in the eastern Venezuelan state of Anzoategui.
Five of the police officers, who have been removed from the force, received 12-year sentences for voluntary manslaughter from the state's 4th Trial Court, according to a statement from the prosecutor's office. Ten other officers were sentenced to three years each for unwarranted use of a firearm, but were acquitted on the manslaughter charge.
At least six other officers charged in the case were acquitted of any wrongdoing, but remain jailed as prosecutors prepare an appeal to the rulings, an Attorney General's office official said.
The bloodshed occurred after the unionized employees took over the auto plant and locked themselves inside, demanding action on a labor dispute. Police, acting on orders from a judge, cut away a metal chain that wrapped around the gates to the plant and forced their way in, which led to the showdown and the violence, the statement said.
The statement didn't indicate why the police began shooting, or if any of the picketing employees had weapons or if they had charged at the police officers.
The employees had occupied the plant to pressure MMC management to hire more than 100 plant maintenance workers who had been fired by contractors.
Management officials and workers at the Mitsubishi plant weren't available for comment Monday.
The Mitsubishi plant continued to have labor problems after the killings. In August 2009, the company shut down operations for a month due to what it called "high level of absenteeism, disobedience, aggression and lawlessness of some of the workers."
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez condemned the killings shortly after they occurred, and promised the offenders would be punished.
Critics of Chavez say the president's socialist policies are partly to blame for union-related violence in Venezuela, because they say the policies emboldens unionists while leaving companies under the constant threat of nationalization.
-By Dan Molinski, Dow Jones Newswires; 58-414-120-5738; dan.molinski@dowjones.com
