[JURIST] Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] has signed a decree granting amnesty to anyone involved in an aborted 2002 coup [Scoop report] against him, as well as other attempts to assassinate him or overthrow the government, Chavez said in a Monday phone call to state television. The law would grant amnesty to anyone who signed a declaration in support of interim President Pedro Carmona during the coup. Chavez described the amnesty as a way of "turning the page."

In 2004, Venezuelan prosecutor Danilo Anderson was killed by a car bomb; Chavez said that Venezuelan exiles in the US were behind the assassination [JURIST report]. The killing was supposedly aimed at halting the prosecution of those who supported the 2002 coup against Chavez, which was followed by a two-month national strike and Chavez's triumphant return to power. Anderson was preparing a case against nearly 400 people who had signed a declaration supporting Carmona. AP has more.