Venezuelan NGOs and the Committee for the Freedom of Political Prisoners have informed this Saturday that the release of prisoners has continued in several penitentiary centers in the north of the country of those considered “political prisoners” who were detained following protests against the official result of the July 28 presidential elections.
Thus, it was this Friday when Venezuela’s attorney general, Tarek William Saab, announced that his office would had asked the courts to review 225 cases out of the total number of detainees after the elections. Of these, 70 have been released this Saturday, of which, according to several media, two are Spaniards.
Apparently, the two released Spaniards would have agreed to be released in exchange for to remain anonymous and not to make any statements. to the media, so no details about his identity have been released.
The Committee for the Freedom of Political Prisoners has pointed out in X that in the penitentiary center of Aragua state, known as Tocorón, 14 persons have been released. Likewise, Another 10 people were released from the prison known as Tocuyito, in the state of Carabobo, in addition to the 10 who had been released from the San Francisco de Yare prison, in the state of Miranda, on Saturday morning.
Meanwhile, the NGO Fundehullan has shared a photograph of Luis Alarcón, a young man of 22 years who suffers from diabetes, and who has also been one of those released from Tocorón prison.
This Saturday, the Venezuelan Prisons Observatory (OVP) has also confirmed the release of prisoners in the Training Center for Female Prisoners La Crisálida, in Miranda state, without specifying a number. The organization has indicated that the women released have received precautionary measures.
Investigations based on new evidence
Saab explained this Friday, in a statement broadcast by the state-run Venezolana de Televisión (VTV), that the decision to release the prisoners has been taken “after exhaustive investigations based on new indications and evidentiary elements.” and in coordination with the courts.
Several NGOs and opposition parties have identified close to 1,850 people apprehended after the presidential elections, in protests against Maduro’s reelection or in police operations. Among them, 69 are minors, and in addition there are dozens of women and military personnel, almost all of them accused of crimes such as terrorism and conspiracy.
In this way, based on new indications and evidentiary elements, 225 revisions have been requested, Saab explained, before recalling that 28 people were killed and nearly 200 injured in the riots. “This action is aimed at family reunification, which consolidates the commitment to human rights,” he stressed.