Venezuela frees 17 political prisoners, opposition movement says

Venezuela on Saturday (Feb 14) freed 17 political prisoners, the human rights committee of opposition movement Vente Venezuela said in a post on X.

CLIPPVE, a nongovernmental organisation, separately reported the release of the political prisoners, who included 10 men and seven women from the Zona 7 Prison in Caracas.

Relatives outside the prison joined a hunger strike initiated by prisoners after only 17 of more than 50 detainees were released, human rights groups said.

CLIPPVE said the protest is a demand for the government to fulfil a pledge made last week by Jorge Rodriguez, head of Venezuela's National Assembly, to grant liberty to everyone held at the centre.

Venezuela has been gradually releasing detainees following the Jan 3 capture of President Nicolas Maduro by the United States, though the process has drawn criticism from rights groups and families who say the pace has been slow and lacks transparency.

The releases come after Venezuelan lawmakers on Thursday postponed a debate on an amnesty bill that is meant to grant immediate clemency to individuals jailed for participating in political protests.

Rights group Foro Penal says it has verified more than 430 releases of political prisoners since Jan 8, though it does not include those moved to house arrest in its count.

The group estimated on Saturday that more than 644 political prisoners remain jailed, a figure that includes 47 people whose whereabouts are unknown and 57 people recently reported as prisoners.

The government denies holding political prisoners and says those jailed have committed crimes. Officials have given a much higher figure of releases - nearly 900 - counting liberations from previous years in their figure.

The government has never provided an official list of how many prisoners will be released, nor who they are.

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