Penal Forum counts 1,905 prisoners for political reasons
In Venezuela there are 1,905 political prisoners, 38 more than last week, when 1,867 were computed persons deprived of liberty for the same reasonsaccording to information from the NGO Foro Penal released this Wednesday.
Through 67 adolescents between 14 and 17 years of age.
The NGO specified that of the total number of arrests, 1,767 were made after the presidential elections of July 28, when a crisis broke out due to the complaint of fraud by the largest opposition coalition, the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), which claims that its candidate , Edmundo Gonzรกlez Urrutia, is the elected president, compared to the official result, which gave re-election to Nicolรกs Maduro.
The post-election crisis unleashed protests that caused, according to the Executive, 25 deaths and more than 2,400 arrests. figure that considerably exceeds that of Foro Penal.
Balance of #PoliticalPrisoners in Venezuela as of 09/30/2024 by ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ผ ๐ฃ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฎ๐น:
We have registered and classified the largest number of prisoners for political purposes known in #Venezuelaat least in the 21st century. We continue to receive and register detainees.
๐ง๐ผ๐๐ฎ๐น ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ผ๐โฆ pic.twitter.com/IaVZCFdeh3
โ Penal Forum (@ForoPenal) October 2, 2024
Foro Penal has registered 17,882 political arrests since 2014
Foro Penal recently explained to Efe that its figures are different from those announced by the authorities because the organization only counts arrests that they classify as “arbitrary”, when – it stated – “There are no elements of guilt” about the arrested person.
The Venezuelan government blames the protesters – whom it links to the PUD – for generating “violence” and “vandalism” in several public venues, while the anti-Chavista bloc accuses state security agents of repression in the protests.
Since 2014, Penal Forum It has registered 17,882 political arrests. 14,000 of those released today were assisted free of charge by the NGO.
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