Venezuelan court orders arrest of Edmundo Gonzalez, prosecutors say | El Diario Vasco

The court of first instance in charge of controlling Venezuela accepted yesterday the request of the Public Prosecutor’s Office and ordered the arrest of the former opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, self-proclaimed winner of the presidential elections held at the end of July. This was reported by the Prosecutor’s Office itself in a message on Instagram in which it reproduced its request to the judicial authority, but did not provide any document confirming its acceptance.

The document, signed by assistant prosecutor Luis Ernesto Dueñez, requested the arrest of González for the alleged crimes of “usurpation of functions”, “forgery of public documents”, “instigation to disobedience of laws”, “conspiracy”, “sabotage to damage systems” and “association”. This request came after the opposition leader did not appear on Friday at the headquarters of the Prosecutor’s Office, which is investigating him for the publication on the Internet of data that would prove his victory in the elections of July 28. It was the third time that he refused to appear and the Public Prosecutor’s Office had already warned that if he did not appear it would be understood that there was a “risk of flight” and “risk of obstruction” of the investigations.

The National Electoral Council (CNE) and the High Court of Justice, two bodies controlled by Chavismo, gave the victory to the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro, results that have been questioned internationally.