Venezuelan court issues arrest warrant for opposition leader
Edmundo Gonzalez (photo: facebook.com/edmundogonzalezu)
A Venezuelan judge has issued an arrest warrant for for opposition’s former presidential candidate Edmundo González, who was a major rival to the incumbent President Nicolás Maduro in the elections, reports Associated Press.
The warrant was issued at the request of Venezuelan authorities, who accuse the 75-year-old González of several crimes, including conspiracy, document falsification, and usurpation of authority.
This marks another escalation in the repression against the opposition, occurring a month after election officials, loyal to the ruling party, announced Maduro's re-election for a third presidential term.
González has missed three previous appointments to answer questions from prosecutors, with the most recent being last Friday. AP notes that the opposition leader has generally been absent from the public since the day after the elections.
González has questioned the prosecutors' actions due to the lack of proper procedural guarantees. He also accused Attorney General Tarek William Saab, a long-time ally of Maduro, of being a political prosecutor who pre-judges cases.
Additionally, González dismissed the summons for questioning, claiming, among other things, that the conditions under which he was to appear were not specified.
In late July, protests erupted in Venezuela over the results of the presidential elections, in which the government declared the incumbent President Nicolás Maduro the winner. The opposition claims that the results were falsified.
It was also reported earlier that the US had recognized opposition candidate Edmundo González as the winner.
In August, it was revealed that Maduro had accused opposition figures of allegedly planning a terrorist attack.
