He went into hiding

Venezuela: Arrest warrant for opposition candidate

Edmundo González Urrutia had gone into hiding in Venezuela after the election.

(Bild: APA/Associated Press)

Just over a month after the highly controversial presidential election in Venezuela, the judiciary has issued an arrest warrant for the opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, who has gone into hiding. The office of the investigating authority requested this in a letter to a judge responsible for "terrorism" published on online networks on Monday, who granted the request shortly afterwards according to the public prosecutor's office.

The 75-year-old González Urrutia is accused of, among other things, usurpation of authority, forgery of documents and links to sponsors of "terrorism". The public prosecutor's office had already threatened to issue an arrest warrant for González Urrutia on Friday in the event that he ignored his third summons for questioning. Urrutia did not appear for the hearing.

González Urrutia allegedly published false election results
The authorities justified the summonses with the publication of allegedly false results of the presidential election on July 28 - and thus also justified the arrest warrant that has now been granted.

Urrutia González Urrutia casting his vote

(Bild: APA/AFP or licensors)

Election is considered controversial
After the election in Venezuela, which was also highly controversial internationally, the largely pro-government electoral commission declared the incumbent Nicolás Maduro the winner. However, the opposition is convinced that its candidate will win and has published results to prove this. González Urrutia last appeared in public two days after the election and then went into hiding.

During protests against Maduro's re-election, 27 people were killed and a further 192 injured. According to official figures, 2,400 people were arrested. Maduro also holds his opponent Urrutia and opposition politician Maria Corina Machado responsible for the violence during the protests.

The request for an arrest warrant came just a few hours after the US government confiscated an airplane used by Maduro in the Dominican Republic.