More than 15,000 political prisoners in Venezuela have applied for amnesty under a new law that came into force just days ago, according to the head of the country’s parliament.
“A total of 1,557 cases have been immediately dealt with and hundreds of people deprived of liberty have already been released under the amnesty law,” National Assembly Speaker Jorge Rodríguez said at a press conference on Saturday.
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Rodriguez’s announcement came two days after the country’s parliament unanimously passed a landmark amnesty law.
Pardons are not automatic under the law. Applicants must ask the court to handle their case.
On Friday, Rep. Jorge Arreaza, who oversees the pardon process, announced that prosecutors have asked the court to release 379 prisoners. They include opposition members, activists, human rights defenders, journalists and many others who have been detained for months or even years.
Rodriguez told AFP on Saturday that 80 prisoners have been released so far. He said all those released were being held in the capital, Caracas, but gave no further details.
Arreaza said further releases could be granted within 15 days.
Venezuela’s interim president Delcy Rodríguez, the sister of a top lawmaker, pushed the U.S.-backed bill after coming to power following the abduction of leftist leader Nicolás Maduro by the U.S. during a military raid on Jan. 3.
The bill’s approval marks a reversal for Venezuelan authorities, which for decades have denied detaining political prisoners and said those imprisoned have committed crimes.
While signing the bill, Rodriguez said the law shows the country’s political leaders are “letting go of some intolerance and carving out a new path in Venezuelan politics.”
But opposition figures have criticized the new bill, which appears to include carve-outs for several crimes previously used by authorities to target Maduro’s political opponents.
Human rights groups have also called for the law to apply to all prisoners held for political reasons, even if they are not among the beneficiaries.
“Excluding imprisoned military personnel and persecuted politicians is discriminatory and unconstitutional,” Alfredo Romero, president of the rights group Foro Penal, said on Saturday. Without this, “there can be no talk of national coexistence.”
The law clearly does not apply to those charged with “promoting armed force or armed action” or “facilitating” or “promoting” a foreign actor’s sovereignty against Venezuela.
Delcy Rodriguez leveled such accusations at opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Colina Machado. She hopes to return to Venezuela from the United States someday.
House arrest on Juan Pablo Guanipa, an opposition politician close to Machado, has been lifted, his brother, lawmaker Thomas Guanipa, told Reuters late on Thursday.
The law also excludes members of the security forces convicted of “terrorism”-related activities.
However, the amnesty extends to 11,000 political prisoners who have been released on parole or under house arrest for about 30 years.
“The law provides for the lifting of alternative measures so that these people can enjoy full freedom,” Rodriguez told reporters.
Relatives, some of whom had been at the scene for weeks, waited patiently outside the national police facility in Caracas, known as Zone 7.
“Let’s hope it’s true,” Genesis Rojas told AFP.
A group of relatives who had been camping for days shouted, “We want to go home!”
Hundreds of people have already been granted conditional release by Rodriguez’s government since the deadly U.S. raid that led to Maduro’s capture.
Mr. Maduro and his wife are in U.S. custody awaiting trial. He has pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking charges and declared himself a “prisoner of war.”
