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Lopez transferred to house arrest

VENEZUELAN opposition kingpin Leopoldo Lopez was transferred from prison to house arrest at the weekend, prompting celebrations among his supporters.

Mr Lopez is serving a 14-year sentence for his role in planning and promoting violent street blockades ("guarimbas") as part of the La Salida bid to overthrow the elected government in 2014.

Forty-three people were killed in the violence, which included opposition members shooting government supporters dead and stringing wires across streets which decapitated motorcyclists.

He claims he is a “political prisoner” — a stance backed by his fans and by the US government — and has thrown his weight behind this year’s outburst of lethal violence against the left, which has killed more than 80 people so far.

President Nicolas Maduro — whose removal from office before his term expires is the key opposition demand — said the decision to allow Mr Lopez to serve the rest of his sentence from home, ostensibly in view of his health, was a matter for the courts to decide and he respected their decision.

Speaking with oil workers at the Simon Bolivar Polideportivo complex, he expressed a hope that the opposition would treat the concession as an olive branch and encourage them to resolve their differences with the government peacefully. “The country wants peace,” he said.

But Mr Lopez declared that he was now “a prisoner in his home, like the people of Venezuela” and called on the opposition to maintain their drive to unseat the president.

His Spain-based lawyer Javier Cremades bragged that the decision was “a gesture of weakness of the Maduro regime and of the opposition’s strength.”

Victims of Guarimbas, a relatives’ support group for people killed by the 2014 opposition violence, said it accepted the ruling by the Supreme Court of Justice.
“We repeat: Leopoldo Lopez is culpable for the 43 who died in 2014. However, as victims, we put the peace of our country first,” the group tweeted.

Washington said it welcomed a “step in the right direction” from Caracas, but demanded Mr Lopez be freed from house arrest and the release of 400 more of its favourite prisoners.

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