At least 10 people detained during protests over Venezuela’s July presidential election have been released from prison, local rights group Foro Penal said on Saturday.
“Some political prisoners have been released since early in the morning,” said the group’s director, Alfredo Romero, in a post on social media platform X. He noted that 10 people so far had been released from a prison known as Yare III, and an unspecified number of others from Las Crisalidas women’s prison.
The number was expected to rise during the day.
According to Foro Penal, at least 1,800 people were arrested after the disputed presidential election on July 28, which kept President Nicolas Maduro in power despite heavily contested results. Maduro took office in 2013 and is set to begin his next six-year term in January.
The election sparked deadly antigovernment protests. The opposition, rights groups and unions have accused Maduro’s administration of cracking down on dissent.
Maduro said last week that he would ask the attorney general’s office to review any arrests in which authorities may have made mistakes.
More than 80 teenagers were released from prison in September, Foro Penal previously said, after being arrested during the post-election protests.
Attorney General Tarek Saab on Friday said he had asked to review at least 225 cases. He has said 28 people were killed and nearly 200 injured in the protests.
Activists and relatives of some of those who were arrested said those people did not participate in the protests. They have also alleged that some prisoners have endured torture in detention.
