A Venezuelan court specializing in terrorism-related crimes issued an arrest warrant on Monday, less than an hour after the prosecutor’s office requested it, against opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia, who was the presidential candidate of the largest anti-Chavista bloc in the elections on July 28.
The Public Ministry released the order on Instagram, which states that once the arrest is made “they must make him (González Urrutia) immediately available” to the tax entity, which, in turn, “must present him before (the court) within 48 hours of his arrest.
This, the letter continues, in order to hold “an oral hearing in the presence of the parties and resolve the relevant issues”, since the former candidate is accused by the Venezuelan State of having, allegedly, committed the crimes of “usurpation of functions”, “forgery of a public document”, “incitement to disobedience to the laws”, “conspiracy”, “sabotage with a view to harming the systems and the association (to commit a crime)”.
The Public Ministry asked the Justice to issue an arrest warrant against the anti-Chavist after he failed to appear in the three summonses issued, in which he was expected to make statements as part of an investigation against him regarding the complaint of fraud that he filed in the presidential elections.
The investigation is linked to the publication of a website on which the main opposition coalition – the Democratic United Platform (PUD) – claims to have posted “83.5% of the electoral files” collected by witnesses and poll workers to bolster its claims that González Urrutia won the election by a wide margin.
The PUD published this record, which the executive calls “false”, after the National Electoral Council (CNE) proclaimed Nicolás Maduro the winner of the elections, which has been questioned by many countries, some of which maintain that González Urrutia won the presidency. Maduro’s men have not yet shown the record.
Opposition alliance condemns arrest warrant against Urrutia
Venezuela’s main opposition coalition, the PUD, on Monday rejected the arrest warrant issued against Edmundo González Urrutia, who is under surveillance after denouncing electoral fraud. From disobedience to the laws, to “conspiracy,” to “sabotage to the point of damaging systems and association (to commit a crime).”
“Venezuelans and the world look with indignation at a regime that has not been able to publish within the legally authorized time frame even an act that supports the fraudulent result announced by the (National Electoral Council) CNE, but that is capable of constructing in a matter of minutes an arrest warrant against the winner of the presidential election,” the PUD said.
This is, he continued, “proof that the regime intends to continue to violate the exercise of popular sovereignty expressed on July 28 in favor of political change in the country.”
