Venezuela judge grants appeal hearing to jailed US oil execs

Six U.S. oil executives detained in Venezuela for four years on corruption charges have been granted a hearing before an appeals court, a rare decision by the judicial system in the South American country

CARACAS, Venezuela -- Six U.S. oil executives detained in Venezuela for four years on corruption charges have been granted a hearing before an appeals court, a rare decision by the judicial system in the South American country.

A judge this week scheduled for Tuesday the hearing for the men known as the Citgo 6, according to a court document shared with The Associated Press by a person familiar with the case. The person was not authorized to discuss the matter and spoke with AP on condition of anonymity.

The executives are to appear before a three-judge panel on the same week as the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention takes up the case of Tomeu Vadell, one of the six Houston-based Citgo employees arrested in 2017.

Vadell, Jose Luis Zambrano, Alirio Zambrano, Jorge Toledo, Gustavo Cardenas and Jose Pereira were taken away by masked security agents while at a meeting in Caracas just before Thanksgiving that year. They had been lured to Venezuela to attend a meeting at the headquarters of Citgo’s parent, state-run oil giant PDVSA.