The Parliament of Venezuela has put figures to the application of the As the Chavista deputy explained this Monday Jorge Arreazapresident of the parliamentary commission in charge of ensuring compliance with the norm, uA total of 177 people have been released and 2,021 have obtained full freedom after being subject to precautionary measures.
Arreaza offered the data during a meeting at the Miraflores presidential palace with what was described as “victims of political violence”. There he defended that these decisions have occurred “thanks to the law” and assured that the commission has received more than 3,000 applications, which continue to be processed in different courts in the country.
The ruling party’s figures contrast with the verifications carried out by the NGO Foro Penal, which between January 8 and February 22 had confirmed 464 releases. In addition, the organization recorded at least 65 releases since the formal approval of the amnesty last Thursday.
Full freedom is not the same as release from prison
One of the key points of the debate is how the numbers are interpreted. Penal Forum difference between “full freedom” and “release”. In the first case, the person is no longer subject to a regime of periodic appearances before the courts. In the second, he is released from prison but remains on conditional release and precautionary measures, such as the prohibition of leaving the country or the obligation to appear regularly before justice.
He Governmentfor its part, maintains that since December there have been more than 800 releases, a figure that Arreaza he recalled during the meeting in Miraflores. According to the deputy, the “spirit” of the law, promoted by the president in charge, is to promote democratic coexistence and peace.
The parliamentary commission not only supervises the cases directly contemplated in the norm, but also reviews other files that could be left out of the initial text. Members of the Program for coexistence and peace, created in January and in charge of monitoring these additional cases.
Accusations of court delays
From the opposition, andDeputy Antonio Ecarri announced that he will ask to investigate judges who delay the application of the amnesty. The warning comes after union groups reported that courts with jurisdiction over terrorism refused to receive requests related to the law.
According to Foro Penal records, At least 400 political prisoners could be excluded from the amnesty. The organization also counts more than 600 people detained for political reasons who remain imprisoned. The Government denies this classification and assures that there are no detainees for political reasons, but for classified crimes.
With figures on the table but with conflicting versions, the actual application of the Amnesty Law will continue to be the subject of scrutiny in the coming weeks.
