Venezuela Frees 225 Arrested After Anti-Government Protests

Venezuela has freed 225 people arrested during anti-government protests over the nation’s disputed presidential election in July, Attorney General Tarek Saab said.

The releases were based on new evidence gathered by prosecutors, Saab said in a statement.

“Between the afternoon of Friday the 15th and Saturday the 16th, 225 measures of liberty were granted and executed to people prosecuted for the acts of violence that occurred after the July 28 elections,” the statement said.

Saab, who has said the protests left 28 people dead and nearly 200 injured, said last week he would review at least 225 arrests.

Local rights group Foro Penal tallied more than 100 people who were freed on Saturday across four prisons.

“Up to now we have verified 107 political prisoners, due to the post-electoral situation, released in Venezuela,” the group’s director, Alfredo Romero, said on social media.

According to Foro Penal, at least 1,800 people were arrested after the July 28 election, which kept President Nicolas Maduro in power despite disputed results. Maduro took office in 2013, and is set to begin his next six-year term in January.

The rights group monitored the releases at four prisons in central Venezuela, including at least 50 young adults from Tocoron prison, Romero said.

A video he posted showed some of them walking along a highway outside the prison, to cheers and applause from a group of onlookers.

In another video, a young man gives his name as Luis Enrique Correa Espinoza and smiles while holding a paper over his head, to applause from supporters.

Outside the Tocuyito prison in Valencia, one young man, who declined to give his name, said he longed to eat a home-cooked meal with his parents because he often doubted whether the food in prison was safe.

The election sparked deadly anti-government protests, and the opposition, rights groups and unions have accused Maduro’s administration of cracking down on dissent.

Venezuela’s electoral authorities and top court said Maduro won the elections, without showing all the voting tallies, prompting supporters of opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez to accuse the ruling party of fraud.

Maduro said last week that he would ask the attorney general’s office to review any arrests in which authorities may have made mistakes.

More than 80 teenagers were released from prison in September after being arrested during the post-election protests.

Activists and relatives of some of those who were arrested said those people did not participate in the protests. They have also alleged that some prisoners have endured torture in detention.

REUTERS/Christopher Ojilere