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Bloomberg
Venezuelan courts released judge Maria Lourdes Afiuni nine years after her arrest and journalist Braulio Jatar, the country’s top court said in separate posts on Twitter, without offering further details.
Afiuni, writing on Twitter, confirmed her release, saying she would post a message when she had the official high court resolution.
National Assembly leader Juan Guaido said on Twitter that Afiuni and Jatar were released due to the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights report on Venezuela.
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said that 22 people were released without specifying if Afiuni or Jatar were included in that figure.
“We welcome these releases and encourage the authorities to release others detained for the exercise of their human rights,†Bachelet said in a statement.
The United Nations report called on Nicolas Maduro’s regime to take “immediate, concrete measures to halt and remedy the grave violations†of economic, social and civil rights.
Venezuela’s government responded, saying the UN report showed bias by minimising measures to improve people’s lives and ignored official data, while failing to mention violent actions by the opposition.