 Further, still according to Cedeno's lawyers, the criminal charges against Cedeño appear to have been part of an orchestrated effort to force him to sell bank assets to individuals close to Chávez at an enormous discount.Cedeño's lawyers argue that this case "identifies the typical pattern employed by the pliant judiciary to attack Chávez's political opponents"—although there is no evidence that Cedeño was campaigning against or criticizing the government prior to his arrest.Held in jail pending trial for 34 months, Cedeño was paroled on 10 December 2009 by judge Maria Lourdes Afiuni.