Venezuela’s courts granted freedom to 379 political prisoners after the approval of an amnesty law promoted by the interim governmentannounced the deputy who chairs the committee responsible for the process. “The Public Ministry presented amnesty requests to the competent courts (…) for a total of 379 people”, declared Jorge Arreaza, on Friday night in a television interview.
“These people will be released and given amnesty between tonight and tomorrow morning [entre sexta-feira à noite e este sábado de manhã em Lisboa]”, added the deputy of the party in power in Caracas. The leader of the Special Commission for Monitoring the Amnesty Law specified that “the Public Prosecutor’s Office has submitted requests for amnesty to the competent courts.”
On Friday, the non-governmental organization (NGO) Foro Penal, which leads the defense of political prisoners in Venezuela, said that 448 political prisoners have been released since the interim government announced the conditional releases in early January. However, nearly 650 others remain in prison.
The NGO informed that it will present a list of 232 cases with “serious violations of human rights” so that they are included in the amnesty law. Gonzalo Himiob, vice-president of the Foro Penal, recalled that the interim president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, asked the monitoring commission and the Democratic Coexistence Program, created in January, on Thursday, to review cases “not included” in the amnesty.
A Foro Penal estimates that at least 400 political prisoners could remain in prison and excluded from amnestywhile another 300 would be included, although I recognize that it depends on the application of legislation. The law approved on Thursday establishes an amnesty for political arrests since 1999.
However, it is limited to cases related with 13 specific political situations, which excludes arrests that occurred in 15 of the 27 years of this periodthe. Of the 13 years that are included in the amnesty, the measure is limited to events that occurred in 20 of the 156 months that make up the period.
On Friday, the Government of Venezuela established a protocol to accelerate the application of the amnesty law, while family members of political prisoners remain outside prisons awaiting new releases. The protocol, whose content is still unknown, was drawn up and approved during a meeting attended by officials from the Supreme Court of Justice and the Attorney General’s Office, and the Special Commission for Monitoring the Amnesty Law. On the social network
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