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Venezuela holds 10 for lawmaker’s murder

Last Updated on Friday, 31 October 2014, 0:16 by GxMedia

Venezuelan attorney general Luisa Ortega Diaz (AVN)

Caracas, Oct 30 (EFE).- Ten people are in custody for the murder of a ruling-party lawmaker and his aide, Venezuelan Attorney General Luisa Ortega said Thursday.

Arrest warrants remain outstanding for four other suspects, three of them foreign nationals, she said during her weekly program on public radio.

All 14 individuals are charged with aggravated homicide in the deaths of legislator Robert Sierra and aide Maria Herrera, aggravated robbery and criminal conspiracy, the attorney general said.

Serra and Herrera were slain the night of Oct. 1 at the lawmaker’s home in Caracas.

The crime was carried out by six men, according to President Nicolas Maduro, who says the killings were politically motivated and that “the Venezuelan ultra-right” is involved.

The double-murder was ordered by right-wing paramilitaries based in neighboring Colombia and the killers were paid $500,000, Maduro said last week.

The president has also disclosed that the police officer responsible for Serra’s security is among the people charged in the case.

While Maduro has said that Colombia’s former President Alvaro Uribe was one of those behind the killings, Venezuelan authorities have not leveled any formal accusations against the Colombian.