Venezuela frees dozens of prisoners after election, rights group says by Reuters
CARACAS (Reuters) – At least 60 people arrested during protests over Venezuela’s July presidential election have been released from prison, rights group Foro Penal said on Saturday.
“Some political prisoners have been released since this morning,” said the group’s director, Alfredo Romero, on the X morning channel.
He said that so far 10 people have been released from the prison known as Yare III, while an unspecified number of others are from the women’s prison Las Crisalidas. Romero later said, in an Instagram post, that 50 adults were released from the Tocoron prison.
A video he posted shows some of them walking on the highway outside the prison, cheering and applauding a crowd of onlookers.
The number of prisoners released was expected to increase during the day.
The prosecutor’s office and communications did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
According to Foro Penal, at least 1,800 people were arrested after the July 28 presidential election, which kept President Nicolas Maduro in power despite the highly contested results. Maduro took office in 2013, and is expected to begin his six-year term in January.
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 won the election, without showing all the voting statistics, which made supporters of the opposition
Edmundo Gonzalez will accuse the ruling party of fraud.
Maduro said last week that 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, Foro Penal said earlier, after being arrested during post-election protests.
Attorney General Tarek Saab said on Friday that he had requested a review of at least 225 cases. He said the protests left 28 people dead and nearly 200 injured.
Activists and relatives of some of those arrested said that those people did not participate in the protests. They also suspected that some prisoners had been subjected to torture while incarcerated.
