The Penal Forum reported on Tuesday, February 4th, that, as of February 3rd, at least 1,196 people remain detained for political reasons, 405 less than two weeks ago, most of them arrested after the presidential elections in July 2024, in which the National Electoral Council (CNE) proclaimed the victory of Nicolás Maduro despite allegations of fraud by the opposition and the international community.
Through the social network X (Formerly Twitter), the NGO stated that, of the total number of detainees, 1,080 are men and 116 are women, among whom there are 1,192 adults and four adolescents between 14 and 17 years of age.
In addition, the Penal Forum indicated that 1,033 of the detainees are civilians, and 163 are military personnel from different bodies of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB).
According to the Prosecutor’s Office of the Chavista regime, more than 2,400 people were arrested for generating “violence” during the post-election protests, a figure higher than that of Foro Penal, which only includes reported and verified cases, and excludes those who have committed crimes.
Tarek William Saab – who claims that there are no political prisoners in the country, but rather that those detained committed several crimes – recently reported that a total of 1,896 people have been released from prison, with “precautionary measures”, a figure that Foro Penal claims not to have confirmed.
EFE news agency