Venezuela judge shot dead, prosecutor says democracy dying

By Andreina Aponte and Andrew Cawthorne CARACAS (Reuters) - Gunmen killed a judge involved in the sentencing of Venezuela's best-known jailed political leader Leopoldo Lopez in the latest fatality of two months of anti-government unrest that has killed at least 61 people, authorities said on Thursday. And in a blistering attack on President Nicolas Maduro's socialist government, the chief state prosecutor said his plan to create a new congress threatened to "eliminate" democracy. The judge, 37-year-old Nelson Moncada was shot and stripped of his belongings as he tried to get away from a street barricade on Wednesday night in Caracas' El Paraiso district, the scene of regular clashes, the prosecutor's office said. This week has seen widespread violence around the Venezuelan capital, with security forces repeatedly breaking up marches by opposition supporters toward government offices downtown, and skirmishes continuing into the night. Protesters frequently block roads with trash and burning tires, sometimes asking passers-by for contributions toward a self-styled "Resistance" movement against Maduro. The government said Moncada was one of the judges who ratified Lopez's 14-year jail sentence, and suggested that might have motivated his killing. "We cannot exclude the possibility this was done by hitmen hired by right-wing terrorists to keep creating and spreading terror," Interior Minister Nestor Reverol said, referring to Venezuela's opposition. Victims from two months of unrest have included supporters on both sides, bystanders and members of the security forces. El Paraiso has seen nightly clashes between demonstrators, pro-government gangs and National Guard soldiers. Venezuela's opposition is demanding new elections to replace the unpopular socialist president whom foes accuse of wrecking the OPEC nation's economy and of becoming a dictator. Maduro, 54, calls them coup-mongers seeking his violent overthrow with U.S. support akin to the short-lived ouster of his predecessor Hugo Chavez in 2002. "DEMOCRACY ... BEING ELIMINATED" The opposition is boycotting his plan for a constituent assembly, with powers to rewrite the constitution, saying it is a sham intended purely to perpetuate the socialists' rule. There has been criticism, too, from within government, where some say it is unnecessary to change the 1999 charter promoted by Chavez, especially without a referendum. "It seems that participative and protagonistic democracy, which cost Venezuelans so much (to get), is being eliminated," said chief prosecutor Luisa Ortega, who has broken with Maduro. She was speaking on the steps of the pro-government Supreme Court, criticizing its ruling this week endorsing Maduro's plan to go ahead with the assembly without a referendum. "This sentence is a backward step for human rights ... popular participation has been reduced to a minimum," she added, before quoting a speech by Chavez at his 1999 inauguration where he lauds "popular sovereignty" over institutions. Venezuela's Supreme Court ordered opposition leader Henrique Capriles on Thursday to avoid roadblocks in the Miranda state that he governs, or face jail. Miranda includes part of the capital Caracas, and the volatile towns of San Antonio de Los Altos and Los Teques, where anti-government street barricades have been common. The 44-year-old lawyer narrowly lost a 2013 vote to Maduro after Chavez's death from cancer, and has been at the forefront of this year's protests, calling for civil disobedience. Authorities have already barred Capriles from running for new political posts for 15 years, on allegations of "administrative irregularities" that he denies, potentially hobbling another bid to run in 2018 when the next presidential vote is due. (Additional reporting by Eyanir Chinea and Alexandra Ulmer; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Andrew Hay)