Venezuela Opposition Candidate Due In Court Over Election Dispute

Caracas, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th Aug, 2024) Venezuelan opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, in hiding since shortly after the country's disputed presidential election, is due to appear in court Monday in a criminal investigation launched by officials considered close to President Nicolas Maduro.

However, it was not immediately clear whether Gonzalez Urrutia, 74, would in fact appear as Maduro has threatened to arrest him and fellow opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, leading him to skip a previous court appearance.

Prosecutors announced Saturday that they had summoned "Citizen Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia on August 26 at 10:00 am (1400 GMT) for an interview."

They are investigating the opposition's publishing of electoral records which, Maduro's opponents say, show the incumbent was clearly defeated.

The United States, the European Union and several Latin American countries have refused to recognize Maduro as having won without seeing detailed voting results of the July 28 election.

Late Sunday, Gonzalez Urrutia said he had been summoned "without guarantees" of due process.

"The attorney general of the Republic has repeatedly behaved as a political accuser. He condemns in advance and now pushes a summons without guarantees of independence and due process," the opposition candidate posted on social media, without definitively saying whether he would attend the hearing.

Venezuela's National Electoral Council (CNE) had declared Maduro the winner, with 52 percent of votes cast, but it has refused to publish detailed results, claiming hackers had corrupted the data.

Attorney General Tarek William Saab said Friday that the opposition's website, where it has posted a detailed breakdown of election results, had "usurped" the powers of the Maduro-aligned CNE.

Saab, a Maduro ally, said Gonzalez Urrutia would have to explain his "disobedience."

An observer mission from the US-based Carter Center said there was no evidence of any cyber attack affecting the vote.