Judge Maria Lourdes Afiuni was arrested by police on December 10, a day after she ordered the conditional release of a long-imprisoned banker accused of fraud.
Venezuelan opposition leaders often accuse populist President Hugo Chavez of cracking down on constitutional freedoms, while he argues his rivals are working secretly with Washington to try to topple his elected government.
Chavez has publicly denounced Afiuni and the banker, Eligio Cedeno, as “bandits,” and has called for the judge to be given a 30-year jail sentence for corruption.
New York-based HRW said the judge was right to free Cedeno because he had been in pretrial detention for nearly three years, despite a two-year limit prescribed by Venezuelan law.
“Throwing a judge in prison for doing her job and issuing a decision that upholds fundamental rights protected under both Venezuelan and international law is not something you’d expect in a functioning democracy,” Jose Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at the global rights watchdog, said in a statement.
