Venezuela releases 22 prisoners including judge, journalist

Venezuela on Thursday released 22 prisoners including the emblematic cases of judge Maria Afiuni and journalist Braulio Jatar, a senior U.N. official said.

Twenty students were also among those freed, according to U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet and her office.

The news came after the U.N. Human Rights Council held a debate on Bachelet’s report of a visit to Venezuela in June.

The report accused Venezuelan security forces of sending death squads to murder young men, but a vice minister rejected that in a speech to the Geneva forum on Friday.

“The welcome releases of 62 detainees then (in June), with a further 22 – including journalist Braulio Jatar and judge (Maria) Lourdes Afiuni – set free yesterday and the authorities’ acceptance of two human rights officers in the country, signify the beginning of positive engagement on the country’s many human rights issues,” Bachelet said.

A spokeswoman said Bachelet had requested the 22 releases directly to leftist President Nicolas Maduro.

Afiuni was jailed without a warrant shortly after former president Hugo Chavez criticized one of her rulings releasing businessman Eligio Cedeno, who was accused of corruption.

Prosecutors accused Afiuni of taking bribes to free Cedeno. She denied the charges, insisting she released Cedeno because he had been awaiting trial for longer than allowed by law.

Afiuni later said she was raped while in jail and refused health treatment by authorities. Ruling Socialist Party leaders rejected those allegations as a hoax to gain sympathy, but she was later granted house arrest.

Jatar, a prominent journalist and lawyer jailed on Venezuela’s Margarita island, was arrested after publicizing a protest against Maduro and accused of money-laundering.