The Venezuelan prosecutor’s office requested on Monday, September 2, the arrest of Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, the opposition candidate who claims victory in the July 28 presidential election in which Nicolas Maduro was declared the winner. In the text published on social networks, the prosecutor’s office launches “the arrest order against citizen Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia” for crimes and offences of “disobedience”, “conspiracy” et «sabotage».
Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, 75, has failed to appear for three summonses from the courts – the last on Friday – who wanted to question him about the opposition website that claims he is the winner of the presidential election. The prosecutor’s office has sent the arrest request to a court specializing in terrorism, which is expected to issue an arrest warrant.
The prosecutor’s office opened an investigation in early August against Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado for “usurpation of functions, dissemination of false information, incitement to disobedience of the laws, incitement to insurrection, criminal association”The former ambassador, who lives in semi-clandestine conditions, has not appeared in public since July 30. To justify his absences, he said he feared justice. “without guarantee of independence” and Attorney General Tarek William Saab, whom he accuses of “behaving like a political accuser”.
27 dead and 192 injured
Socialist President Nicolas Maduro, whose victory was validated by the Supreme Court, was declared the winner with 52% of the vote by the National Electoral Council (CNE), which did not, however, make public the minutes of the polling stations, saying it was the victim of a computer hack. Such an attack is considered implausible by the opposition and many observers, who see it as a maneuver by the government to avoid disclosing the exact count. According to the opposition, which published the minutes provided by its scrutineers, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia obtained more than 60% of the vote.
After the announcement of Nicolas Maduro’s re-election, spontaneous demonstrations left 27 dead and 192 injured, while some 2,400 people were arrested, according to official sources. President Maduro and the government in general regularly blame the opposition for the violence, believing that its leaders should be in prison.
