The Venezuelan Prosecutor’s Office requested this Monday to a court specializing in “terrorism” crimes that emits a «arrest warrant» against the standard-bearer of the largest opposition coalition, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutiafor its “alleged commission of crimes of usurpation of functions” y «forging of public document»in relation to the electoral records of the presidential elections of July 28.
The request is made after the Prosecutor’s Office summoned González Urrutia on three occasions and the opponent decided not to appear, not knowing in what capacity he should appear and not admitting the crimes that the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) attributes to him.
According to a document from the public prosecutor’s office dated today, the anti-Chavez activist is also accused of “instigating disobedience of laws,” “conspiracy,” “sabotage to damage systems and association (to commit crimes).”
The investigation into González Urrutia is related to the publication of a website in which the main opposition coalition – the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) – claims to have uploaded “83.5% of the electoral records” collected by witnesses and polling station members on election night to support their claim of fraud in the presidential election.
The PUD released these records, which the Executive calls “false,” after the National Electoral Council (CNE) declared Nicolás Maduro the winner of the elections, which has been questioned by numerous countries, some of which support that González Urrutia won by a wide margin.
Arrest warrants
Last Thursday, when the third summons was made public, the Prosecutor’s Office warned that if he did not appear again, “an arrest warrant would be issued” considering that he “is at risk of flight.”
On August 25 – the date on which the first summons was issued -, through a video posted on social media, González Urrutia said that the MP “intends to subject him to an interview without specifying the condition under which he is expected to appear and pre-qualifying crimes not committed.”
In his opinion, the Attorney General, Tarek William Saab, “has repeatedly behaved like a political accuser,” since – he asserted – “he condemns in advance and now promotes a summons without guarantees of independence and due process.” EFE
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