Venezuelan Prosecutor’s Office will review more than 200 cases of arrests after presidential elections

The Attorney General of Venezuela, Tarek William Saab, reported this Friday that his office requested the review of 225 measures against defendants in the context of the protests against the presidential elections of July 28, after “exhaustive investigations based on new evidence.”

“We are going to continue reviewing, we are going to continue looking at the cases that arise (…) whoever has been responsible for the criminal actions subject to a link as a direct participant in them will be punished, will be sanctioned,” Saab said in a conference of press broadcast on the State channel.

“Whoever has not had said responsibility in the middle of an investigation will be subject to a review of the measure,” he added.

Last week, President Nicolás Maduro urged Saab to review and rectify if necessary.

“Justice is fair, because it punishes those who must be punished and establishes the truth in all cases and forgives when there has to be forgiveness in case there has been some type of procedural error, cases have been seen, because it was a moment of a riot like crazy,” said the president.

After the Venezuelan electoral authority proclaimed Maduro the winner of the elections, amid complaints of fraud by the opposition that published copies of the minutes kept by its table witnesses and that give the former presidential candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia, as the winner, They sparked protests that in many cases ended in violence.

At least 28 people died and more than 2,400, including teenagers, were arrested in the days after the election and are accused of allegedly having committed terrorism crimes.

Allegations of arbitrariness

Relatives of many of those detained, including opposition table witnesses, have denounced that the arrests were arbitrary and that, in many cases, they were not participating in the protests.

According to the most recent report from the Penal Forum, there are currently 1,976 people detained in Venezuela for political reasons, of which 1,848 were arrested since July 29, one day after the elections. At least 79 of those detained are teenagers.

“A very high number, the highest of political prisoners in all of America,” said this Thursday Alfredo Romero, director-president of the organization that provides pro bono assistance to people arbitrarily detained.

According to the most recent report from the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela (FFM), human rights violations in Venezuela have worsened after the elections.

This week, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) urged the international community not to accept “or normalize” the situation in Venezuela after the presidential elections, and called for a “coordinated and diplomatic” effort to support a peaceful transition to democracy in that country.

Connect with the Voice of America! Subscribe to our channels YouTube, WhatsApp and to the newsletter. Turn on notifications and follow us on Facebook, x and instagram.