EFE Agency
***The Attorney General emphasized that those who are proven guilty of crimes “will remain deprived of liberty for many years”_
A total of 1,062 people have been arrested in Venezuela this week following numerous protests in various regions of the country against the official election result last Sunday, which ratified Nicolás Maduro, in power since 2013, as re-elected president, according to Tarek William Saab, Attorney General of the Republic.
The official clarified that if it is proven, after the corresponding investigation, that some of the detainees did not participate in the protests, they will be released, but “those who are found responsible (…) will remain deprived of their freedom for many years.”
Saab said that, according to a preliminary report, 77 members of the State security forces were injured during the protests, 29 more than those reported last Tuesday, when he also reported the death of a sergeant in Aragua.
The prosecutor showed a sequence of videos of “terrorist attacks” in which “groups that cannot in any way be called peaceful protesters” can be seen, while saying that these demonstrations included “paramilitary groups” and that “the comanditos” – as the political organization groups of the opposition campaign of Edmundo González Urrutia are called – “were criminal groups.”
The official said that the Attorney General’s Office and the Venezuelan justice system “will not allow an escalation” that leads to “embryos of civil war” and assured that, after the protests on Monday and Tuesday, there is “a tense calm” thanks to the “arm of justice” and “the courts.”
Saab did not refer to the injured protesters, who were repelled with tear gas and pellets used by the security forces, nor did he mention the more than 15 people who died during these demonstrations, five of them in Aragua.
However, he accused some of “the crime of simulating (deaths)” and “spreading messages that cause anxiety and panic in the population.”
President Nicolás Maduro has denounced that a coup attempt of a “fascist nature” is underway, in view of the questions regarding his re-election, which was rejected by the majority opposition and a large part of the international community.
| SITUATION IN ARAGUA |
| Luis Chunga
Yesterday at noon, those arrested during the protests at the beginning of the week were presented and transferred to the Palace of Justice in the state of Aragua for their presentation hearing. Zulema Siso, a lawyer and human rights defender, is in charge of defending all of the detainees, which number more than 60, along with other legal experts. “I am defending 40 detainees, but there are many more young people being tried, but they will be assisted by private lawyers.” Today we will find out how many of the citizens who were arrested during these protests will be brought to justice. |
Photos Courtesy
#arrested #protests #election #results
2024-08-01 18:19:04