Venezuela’s attorney general, Chavista Tarek William Saab, announced on Monday (5) the opening of a criminal investigation against opposition presidential candidate Edmundo González and opposition leader María Corina Machado.
In a statement, Saab said he made the decision after González and Machado released a letter in which they reiterated that the opposition won the presidential election on July 28 (contrary to the certification by the National Electoral Council – CNE, which gave the victory to dictator Nicolás Maduro), referred to the opposition candidate as president-elect and asked the security forces to stop repressing the protests of the Venezuelan population.
Saab alleged that the letter “falsely announces a winner of the presidential elections other than the one proclaimed by the National Electoral Council, the only body authorized to do so,” and “openly incites police and military officials to disobey the laws.”
The attorney general pointed out that there is evidence of the crimes of usurpation of functions, dissemination of false information to cause anxiety, instigation to disobey the laws, instigation to insurrection, association to commit a crime and conspiracy.
“The Public Prosecutor’s Office, as the holder of the criminal action, in its duty to be the guarantor of peace and stability in the country, will remain vigilant against any act that implies the generation of violence or anxiety in the population and that seeks to repeat events that left painful wounds in the entire Venezuelan family,” wrote Saab.
In the letter, González and Machado said that the main bloc opposed to Chavismo obtained 67% of the votes in the presidential election, while Maduro reached 30%.
“However, Maduro refuses to acknowledge that he was defeated throughout the country and, in the face of legitimate protests, he has launched a brutal offensive against democratic leaders, prosecutors, poll workers and even ordinary citizens, with the absurd purpose of wanting to hide the truth and, at the same time, trying to corner the winners,” said González and Machado.
Both appealed to “the conscience of the military and police to stand by the people and their own families” and asked them to fulfill “their institutional duties, not to repress the people, to support them.” González also called for him to be proclaimed president-elect “immediately.”
On Monday, the president of the CNE, fellow Chavista Elvis Amoroso, said he had sent the voting records from the presidential election to the Venezuelan Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ). However, ignoring international appeals, the council has not publicly released the documents.
The TSJ, which is presided over by Chavista judge Caryslia Rodríguez, will review the results. Last week, the court called a hearing for all presidential candidates to sign a term committing to respect the result of that review.
Eight of the ten candidates signed the agreement: González did not attend the hearing and Enrique Márquez, from the Centrados party, attended but refused to sign the agreement.
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