Relatives of political prisoners ask the Church to intercede

Relatives of political prisoners in Venezueladetained by state security agencies in the post-election protests, asked the Catholic Church this Thursday to intercede so that they are released before Christmas.

«I ask the Church to please also intercede for the release of political prisoners, since it is an entity that believes in freedom, that believes in justice, because that is the message that our Lord Jesus Christ gave us,” said Yovanka Ávila, sister of the detained Henryberth Rivas, during a mass and vigil outside a temple in the west of Caracas.

Diego Casanova, brother of the detained José Gregorio Pérez, told EFE that “thanks to pressure” from relatives the release of at least 225 prisoners has been achieved.

«All those detained are innocent… they have been incriminated for crimes they did not commit, with forged evidence. We, as family members, are going to continue insisting on the truth and the truth is that all of them are innocent,” he added, in statements to the agency.

During the activity, the relatives of these detainees released white balloons into the air, lit candles and took a brief walk through the streets near the church.

Political prisoners in Venezuela

The non-governmental organization Foro Penal, which leads the defense of political prisoners in Venezuelareported this Thursday that 1,905 people are still imprisoned, most of them detained after the July 28 elections in which Maduro was proclaimed the winner by the National Electoral Council, a result indicated as fraudulent by the majority opposition.

According to figures published in X by the NGO, 1,660 prisoners are men and 245 are women. In addition, there are 1,742 civilians and 63 military personnel. The Penal Forum specified that 1,863 are adults and 42 adolescents between 14 and 17 years of age. To date, 149 people have been convicted.

Since 2014 there have been registered 18,061 arrests for political reasons in Venezuela. While more than 14,000 people who were assisted by Foro Penal have been released.

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