CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Nongovernmental organizations in Venezuela on Saturday announced the release from prison of some of the thousands of people detained during and after the deadly anti-government protests that followed July’s presidential election, results of which are still pending are always subject to change. dispute.
Their release came a day after the attorney general, who is loyal to the ruling party, announced the review of 225 cases related to the aftermath of the election, which President Nicolás Maduro and opposition candidate Edmundo González both claim to have won.
Venezuela-based organizations Penal Forum and Venezuelan Prison Observatory announced the prison release on X, but the exact number of people released was not immediately clear. The latter organization said the release was subject to certain conditions, which it did not explain further.
Images shared by the Observatory on social media show women tearfully embracing their loved ones outside a prison in the South American country. The organization described the release as a “victory” and demanded that anyone who remains in prison for their role in the election and activities in its aftermath be released.
Maduro’s government has been heavily criticized for the lack of transparency of the elections and the repression unleashed in their aftermath, including the arrests of political leaders, lawyers, poll workers, election volunteers and protesters, both minors and adults.
The protests erupted after Venezuelan election authorities declared that Maduro had won the July 28 election and claimed they could not publish the results at the district level because their website had been hacked. At the same time, the main opposition coalition announced that it had obtained voting forms from more than 80% of the electronic voting machines used across the country, published them online and declared that its candidate, González, had defeated Maduro by a landslide.
The government arrests involved approximately 2,400 people. Government officials, including Attorney General Tarek William Saab, have strongly defended the detentions, but earlier this week Maduro called on Saab and judges to ensure “justice” in the event that a case “needs to be rectified and reviewed.”
