The authorities of Venezuela announced this Friday that more than 130 people detained for political reasons will be released under their amnesty law, approved in February, which opens the door to release those who have committed crimes since 1999.
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The Program for Peace and Democratic Coexistence reported that “alternative measures to deprivation of liberty have been granted for a total of 131 people who were under detention regime, for their alleged or proven participation in the commission of crimes provided for in the Venezuelan legal system.”
“These measures were agreed upon by the courts of the Republic, at the request of the Public Ministry, after this Program requested the bodies of the Criminal Justice System to evaluate the legal situation of persons prosecuted or convicted for crimes related to various attacks against democratic institutionality, peace, and the development of the Republic”, stated a communiqué disseminated on social media.
The NGO Penal Forum, which monitors the status of prisoners in Venezuela, had announced shortly before that the country’s authorities released 17 people, including the “political prisoner Emirlendris Benítez,” who had been imprisoned since 2018.
Amnesty International denounced in 2023 that in her case it was enough to share a car ride with third parties allegedly involved in acts of violence to be detained and tortured.
Benítez lost the child she was expecting and needs a wheelchair to move, the NGO pointed out in a report documenting arbitrary detentions in Venezuela.
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The Committee for the Freedom of Political Prisoners (CLIPPVE) expressed their “immense joy” for the release of Benítez, “unjustly detained,” in a statement shared on X, where they offered their “deepest solidarity with her entire family.”
This organization denounced that during the eight years in prison the young woman “suffered multiple tortures that left her with serious health consequences,” and therefore demanded “comprehensive reparation for all victims” and particularly for women, who have been subjected to “cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment.”
“The struggle does not end here. We remind that there are still hundreds of political prisoners deprived of their liberty,” they added.
The acting president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, announced at the end of January an amnesty law for political prisoners who remain in the country’s prisons.
At that time, she also reported the closure of the Helicoide facilities, a detention center operated by the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN) and pointed out by the Venezuelan opposition as a torture center for political dissidents.
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