Releases are to do “justice”

Nicolás Maduro said on Monday that the release of a group of Venezuelans detained after the controversial elections in which he was proclaimed for a third consecutive term amid allegations of fraud aims to do “justice.”

The president thus referred to 225 freedom measures announced on Friday, November 15, by the Prosecutor’s Office after reviewing cases linked to the protests for his re-election that left nearly 2,400 detained, including 164 teenagers.

«The successful release of this group of Venezuelans was a joint initiative between the Attorney General, Tarek William Saab; the president of the TSJ (Supreme Court of Justice), Caryslia Beatriz Rodríguez, and myself, in the search for justice,” said Maduro. during his weekly television show.

The measures were granted days after Maduro himself asked to “rectify and review” the cases so that “there is justice.”

The post-election protests also left 28 dead, including 2 soldiers, and approximately 200 injured.

“Only if there is justice there will be peace, so I congratulate the justice bodies, the Judiciary, the Citizen Power, the Prosecutor’s Office for taking these very favorable steps that consolidate the peace of the country,” said Maduro.

However, when asked about the possibility of granting a general amnesty, he said: “I believe there will be general justice.”

The NGO Foro Penal, dedicated to the defense of political prisoners, verified 143 releases until late Monday night. of 10 adolescents and 133 adults.

“After the recent releases, more than 1,700 political prisoners remain in Venezuela,” Alfredo Romero, president of Foro Penal, indicated on his social networks.

The NGO has denounced that Venezuela houses the largest number of “political prisoners” in the 21st century and on the American continent, a good part of these detained in maximum security prisons.