Venezuela frees more than 200 prisoners detained after election

Venezuela has freed 225 people arrested during anti-government protests over the nation’s disputed presidential election in July, Attorney General Tarek Saab said late on Saturday.

The releases were based on new evidence gathered by prosecutors, Saab said in a statement.

“Between the afternoon of Friday the 15th and Saturday the 16th, 225 measures of liberty were granted and executed to people prosecuted for the acts of violence that occurred after the July 28 elections,” the statement said.

Saab, who has said the protests left 28 people dead and nearly 200 injured, said last week he would review at least 225 arrests.

Local rights group Foro Penal tallied more than 100 people who were freed on Saturday across four prisons.

A man arrested during protests following the disputed July 28 presidential election hugs a relative after his release outside the Tocuyito prison in Tocuyito, Carabobo State, Venezuela. Photo: AFP

“Up to now we have verified 107 political prisoners, due to the post-electoral situation, released in Venezuela,” the group’s director, Alfredo Romero, said on social media.