Mexico City.- Venezuela’s Attorney General’s Office on Monday requested an arrest warrant for former opposition candidate Edmundo González, who failed to appear at three court appearances at the Public Prosecutor’s Office for publishing electoral data on a website that authorities consider a “usurpation of functions.”
The request is also for the alleged commission of the crimes of forging public documents, instigation to disobedience of laws, conspiracy, sabotage to damage systems and association, the Prosecutor’s Office said in the letter of request to a court for terrorism crimes published on its Instagram account.
The Prosecutor’s Office announced the first summons to González almost two weeks ago, and in his absence issued a second summons, which the former diplomat also did not attend. The third summons was for Friday, when the country suffered a national power outage. According to Venezuelan law, people over 70 do not go to prison.
Gonzalez’s team said they are on alert awaiting notification, but declined to comment further.
Earlier, Edmundo Gonzalez had said that the Attorney General’s Office was acting as a “political accuser” that would subject him to a trial “without guarantees of independence and due process.” Earlier this month, the Attorney General’s Office launched an investigation into opposition leader Maria Corina Machado y Gonzalez for publishing a public letter addressed to the military and police. Machado said later on Monday on the social network X that the request for his arrest would increase the public’s support for Gonzalez. Attorney General Tarek Saab announced on August 7 that he would investigate those responsible for the opposition website that published documentation of the presidential election. Maduro was proclaimed by the National Electoral Council (CNE) as the winner of the presidential election, despite the opposition’s claim that it had copies of 80% of the voting records issued by the voting machines that gave Gonzalez the victory. The CNE, an organization seen by critics and opponents as an ally of the ruling party, has not disclosed the total votes or the details by polling stations. The Supreme Court of Justice validated the results that declared Maduro the winner.
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