By The Diary
Aug 22, 2024, 8:34 PM EDT
Tarek William Saab, the Venezuelan attorney general who answers to the Nicolás Maduro regime, announced on Thursday that the prosecutor’s office will deepen investigations against Venezuelan opposition leaders, including candidate Edmundo González.
Saab made the announcement after the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ), which also answers to the socialist leader, ratified the decision of the National Electoral Council (CNE) to proclaim Nicolás Maduro as the winner of the presidential elections of July 28.
In the ruling, the TSJ promised to “urgently” send Saab’s Public Prosecutor’s Office to advance its investigation into the publication of minutes on the website resultadosconvzla.com, which the Venezuelan opposition enabled with the minutes they collected and that were issued by the CNE itself on election night.
“We are using all the corresponding legal resources and unequivocally abiding by the ruling of the TSJ to move forward and delve deeper into these investigations that will have results and we will announce them at the appropriate time,” said Saab.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office has stated that the publication of these minutes, which certify Edmundo González’s victory, involved the alleged crimes of usurpation of functions, forgery of public documents, instigation to disobedience of the law, computer crimes, criminal association and conspiracy.
He accuses the opposition
Saab accused the opposition of “using” the electoral issue “to escalate into violent, criminal, terrorist, delinquent actions, none of which are peaceful.”
In this regard, he asserted that none of the 25 murders were perpetrated by civil, military or police officials, since – he said – there is not a single “complaint” filed with the Prosecutor’s Office against state security forces.
However, the NGO Provea documented that at least two of these murders are linked to officials of the Bolivarian National Police (PNB) and that at least nine others were committed by the so-called colectivos, armed Chavista groups.
Last Monday, Saab warned that “at any moment” opposition leader María Corina Machado and other opponents could be charged.
“At any time, any of them could be held responsible as the masterminds behind all these events,” he told the pro-government media outlet Últimas Noticias.
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