Berlin Urges Caracas to Release Jailed Opposition Figures

BERLIN (Sputnik) — The German government calls on the Venezuelan authorities to immediately release the country's opposition figures Leopoldo Lopez and Antonio Ledezma, as well as other people detained during the protests against the Constituent Assembly elections, Deputy Spokesperson of the German Government Ulrike Demmer said on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Ledezma and Lopez were arrested for violating the terms of their house arrest, according to country's Supreme Tribunal of Justice.

"The Federal Government demands immediate release of [Lopez and Ledezma] and all other detainees," Demmer said at a press briefing, adding that the legitimacy of the Constituent Assembly, elected under such circumstances, could not be recognized.

Ledezma, a former mayor of Caracas, was arrested in 2015 and spent four months in prison before being placed on house arrest. Lopez was detained three years ago after protests against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro government and sentenced to more than a decade in prison. He was transferred to house arrest in July after spending three years in prison.

Last week, Venezuela held an election to select members of the Constituent Assembly, a new legislative body with the power to amend the constitution. The election was held amid mass protests across the country that have already resulted in over 110 deaths. Maduro convened the Constituent Assembly to restore peace in a beleaguered country, but the opposition said that a new legislative body would only serve to solidify the current government's hold onto power.