Justice Yris Armenia Peña Espinoza holds the presidency of the Civil Cassation Chamber. Peña was born and raised in the capital of the state of Barinas. After graduating from high school she decided to study law in Zulia.
She graduated from the University of Zulia, and then completed a postgraduate study at the Andrés Bello Catholic University, where she specialised in Procedural and Criminal Law and Criminology.
In 2005 she was granted an honorary degree in Criminal Law by the Santa Maria University.
For five years she practiced law as a trial advocate. She is an active member of the Bar of Barinas, where she was Vice President of the Disciplinary Court. In July 1999 she was promoted to Judge of First Instance for Criminal Matters of the state of Barinas and in April 2002 she was appointed by the Supreme Court (TSJ) as Justice of the Court of Appeals for the Criminal Judicial Circuit of Barinas.
In 2005 the Plenary Chamber of the TSJ appointed Peña as Court Inspector General.
Source: Poderopedia (http://www.poderopedia.org/ve/personas/Yris_Pena)
