Venezuela's government asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to overturn the acquittals of the military ringleaders of a 2002 coup against President Hugo Chavez to clear the way for fresh prosecutions. Opposition leaders condemned the request by attorney-general Isaias Rodriguez as a bid by Chavez's government to intensify what they say is a political witchhunt against his enemies in the world's No. 5 oil exporter. Since he survived the April 2002 coup that deposed him for 48 hours, left-winger Chavez has bitterly criticized the Supreme Court ruling of the same year which cleared two generals and two admirals of rebellion charges. The August 2002 acquittals were seen as a legal impediment to recent renewed efforts by the government to bring to trial more than 400 people suspected of backing the confused coup. The state prosecutor heading these latest coup cases was murdered by a car bomb last month in an assassination the government has blamed on extremist opponents. "We are appealing to the Supreme Court ... to correct the grotesque errors of the August sentence, to establish the historic truth of what happened in April 2002," Rodriguez told reporters. --More 2223 Local Time 1923 GMT
