Venezuela has brought forward the hearing of Colombian DAS employee Julio Enrique Tocora, who was arrested on suspicion of espionage in the Venezuelan city of Maracaibo last September, Caracol radio reported on Wednesday.
Although Colombian authorities believed that the Venezuelan military judge would grant the official his freedom, he was in fact detained by the court on charges of espionage and use of false documentation.
Two DAS officials who had been with Tocora until the day before his arrest gave a declaration on his behalf to the Colombian prosecutor general, which was then forwarded to Venezuela as a legal document to be used in court.
The declaration will be used in the defense of Tocora and denies any act of espionage by DAS official during his time in Venezuela.
In September last year the DAS released a statement explaining that Tocora had traveled to Venezuela the day before the arrest for a few days of vacation in the neighboring country.
A date for the trial of Tocora has not yet been established.