Venezuelan political prisoner Emirlendris Benítez released after eight years

Political prisoner Emirlendris Benítez was released today after eight years of detention. This was reported by the Committee for the Liberation of Political Prisoners and Alfredo Romero, director of the NGO Foro Penal, on their social networks. Benítez was arrested on August 5, 2018, after getting into a taxi driven by her partner, and accused without evidence of terrorism and criminal conspiracy in the investigation into the alleged drone attack against former president Nicolás Maduro Moros.

Four months pregnant, she was allegedly subjected to torture in custody, which resulted in the loss of her baby and serious physical consequences: she is now forced to use a wheelchair. In 2020 the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights granted her a measure of protection. In 2022, a UN working group defined his detention as arbitrary and called for his immediate release.