The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) rejected this Tuesday the “criminal prosecution” against “opposition leaders” in Venezuela which – he assured – seeks “block” the political participation of anti-Chavistas.
In a statement, the IACHR He stated that the arrest warrants announced this month by the Public Ministry (MP, Prosecutor’s Office) against 14 people, including three “opposition leaders and members of the presidential candidate’s work team Maria Corina Machado”, are part of a “pattern of persecution aimed at discouraging political participation” of the antichavismo.
He also pointed out the case of Roberto Abdulpresident of the NGO join indedicated to the promotion of political rights and participation in elections, who was “detained, temporarily disappeared and brought before the courts without having access to a technical defense of his choice”, and released on December 20, after 14 days in prison.
These four people, along with ten others who are abroad, were accused by the Prosecutor’s Office of “betrayal of the country, conspiracy, laundering and criminal association”, in an alleged conspiracy against the December 3 referendum on the territorial dispute with Guyana.
The IACHR assured that the Venezuelan justice system “does not offer guarantees of independence and impartiality” and “has played a significant role in the repression of opponents of the Government” of the president Nicolas Maduro.
Furthermore, he warned that the “use of extremely broad, vague and ambiguous criminal figures, such as treason, can be instrumentalized to persecute and prevent legitimate political participation”.
MORE INFORMATION: María Corina Machado’s Party calls for an end to “political persecution” in Venezuela
The commission demanded that the Venezuelan State, in addition to releasing “immediately to all persons arbitrarily detained“, adopt, “urgently, measures to restore the separation and independence of public powers and guarantee the political participation of the opposition in the 2024 presidential election″.
On December 9, Machado, presidential candidate of the main opposition coalition, stated that the “onset” of the Government against his party, Sell Venezuela (VV).
The former deputy, disqualified from competing for elected positions, then reported attacks against the party’s headquarters, blocking of bank accounts and threats “with arrest warrants for citizens who all they do is dedicate themselves to working for Venezuela”.
