In Venezuela, the arrest of opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia is ordered

C5N

Caracas.-Venezuela’s prosecutors have requested the arrest of Edmundo González Urrutia, a rival of dictator Nicolás Maduro in the July elections in which the president was declared the winner amid allegations of fraud by the opposition.

In a written statement, prosecutor Luis Ernesto Dueñez Reyes requested an arrest warrant against González Urrutia for the alleged commission of the crimes of usurpation of functions, forgery of public documents, instigation to disobedience of laws, conspiracy, sabotage and illicit association.

A court specializing in terrorism-related crimes accepted the request and issued an arrest warrant against González Urrutia.

González Urrutia has failed to attend three summonses by the Chavista Public Prosecutor’s Office in the last week. The investigation into González Urrutia is related to the publication of a website in which the main opposition coalition – the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) – claims to have uploaded “83.5% of the electoral records” collected by witnesses and polling station members on election night, to support its claim of fraud in the presidential elections.

The PUD released these records, which the Executive calls “false,” after the National Electoral Council (CNE) declared Nicolás Maduro the winner of the elections, which has been questioned by numerous countries, some of which support the idea that González Urrutia won by a wide margin.

For this reason, the Prosecutor’s Office summoned the PUD flag bearer for “the alleged commission of the crimes of usurpation of functions, forgery of public documents, instigation to disobedience of the law, computer crimes, criminal association and conspiracy.”

On Thursday, when the third summons was made public, the Prosecutor’s Office warned that if he does not appear again, “a corresponding arrest warrant will be issued against him” considering that he “is at risk of flight.”

Last Sunday, through a video posted on social media, González Urrutia said that the MP “intends to subject him to an interview without specifying the condition in which he is expected to appear and pre-qualifying crimes that he did not commit.”

In his opinion, the Attorney General “has repeatedly behaved like a political accuser,” since – he asserted – “he condemns in advance and now promotes a summons without guarantees of independence and due process.”