More than 700 people arrested during protests against the re-election of President Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela have been transferred to two high-security prisons, the Venezuelan Prison Observatory (OVP) announced on Saturday, August 31, denouncing the “numerous irregularities”.
“The regime of Nicolas Maduro has proceeded to transfer more than 700 political prisoners, arbitrarily detained after the presidential election of July 28 in police stations throughout the national territory and taken to the prisons of Tocuyito and Tocoron”according to a statement from the OVP. The transfers took place on August 25, 27 and 30, at a price of “numerous irregularities, even deception, because relatives were not warned”added the NGO.
Some 2,400 people have been arrested during protests against Mr Maduro’s re-election, with the crackdown leaving 27 dead and 192 injured.
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Teenagers among the prisoners
According to the NGO Foro Penal, which defends people imprisoned for political reasons in Venezuela, out of 114 teenagers arrested since July 29, 34 have been released. Some of these young people are only 13 years old and have been sent to prison with older common law prisoners, denounced this week, Maria Corina Machado, leader of the opposition.
In early August, the president warned that he would send protesters to Tocoron and Tocuyito, two prisons in central Venezuela known to be run by criminal gangs.
“To date, none of the people transferred (…) was not allowed to contact her family or appoint a trusted lawyer”the Observatory worried, and the authorities have not given any information about them. More than half of those arrested, or 1,581, are considered to be “political prisoners” by the NGO Foro Penal.
The South American oil country has been in a new political crisis since the presidential election on July 28. Nicolas Maduro, whose victory was validated by the Supreme Court on August 22, was declared the winner with 52% of the vote, but the opposition considers that his candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia obtained 60% of the votes. The National Electoral Council (CNE) has not released the minutes of the polling stations, arguing that computer hacking was involved.
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