Venezuela says it is freeing 225 people arrested after anti-government protests By Reuters
Caracas (Reuters) – Venezuela has released 225 people who were arrested during anti-government protests over July’s presidential election, Attorney General Tarek Saab said on Saturday.
The release was based on new evidence gathered by prosecutors, Saab said in a statement.
“Between the afternoon of Friday the 15th and Saturday the 16th, 225 measures of freedom were granted to people who were prosecuted for acts of violence that occurred after the July 28 election,” the statement said.
Saab, who said the protests left 28 people dead and nearly 200 injured, said last week that he would review at least 225 people arrested.
The local rights group Foro Penal counted more than 100 people released on Saturday from four prisons.
“So far we have confirmed 107 political prisoners, due to the post-election situation, who have been released in Venezuela,” said the group’s director, Alfredo Romero, on social media.
According to the Foro Penal report, at least 1,800 people were arrested after the July 28 election, which kept President Nicolas Maduro in power despite disputed results. Maduro came to power in 2013, and is expected to begin his six-year term in January.
The rights group is monitoring the release of four prisons in central Venezuela, including at least 50 youths from the Tocoron prison, Romero said.
The video he posted shows some of them walking on the highway outside the prison, cheering and applauding a crowd of onlookers.
In another video, a young man identified himself as Luis Enrique Correa Espinoza and smiles with a paper on his head, to the applause of fans.
Outside the Tocuyito prison in Valencia, another young man, who refused to give his name, said that he wished for food cooked at home with his parents because he often doubted whether the food in the prison was safe.
The election sparked anti-government protests, with opposition groups, rights groups and unions accusing Maduro’s administration of suppressing the opposition.
Venezuela’s electoral authorities and the supreme court said Maduro had won the election, without showing vote tallies, prompting supporters of opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez to accuse the ruling party of fraud.
Maduro said last week he would ask the attorney general’s office to review any arrests that authorities may have made.
More than 80 youths were released from prison in September after being arrested during post-election protests.
Activists and relatives of some of the detainees said that those people did not participate in the protests. They also suspected that some prisoners had been subjected to torture while incarcerated.
