On December 4, 2016, Venezuelan democracy activists initiated a sit-in at St. Peter’s Square in Rome, Italy, and urged Vatican representatives to support the release of Venezuela’s 108 political prisoners. Lilian Tintori, wife of imprisoned Leopoldo Lopez, her mother-in-law Antonieta Lopez, and Mitzy Capriles, wife of the jailed mayor Antonio Ledezma, were among several demonstrators…
The World Movement for Democracy welcomes the release of Venezuelan political prisoner and prominent opposition activist, Rosmit Mantilla. On November 17, 2016, Mantilla was freed after being arbitrarily detained for 2.5 years in Venezuela due to charges stemming from the country’s 2014 student protests. In the 2015 elections, he became the first openly gay politician…
November 13, 2016, marked Venezuelan political prisoner Leopoldo Lopez’s 1,000th day in prison. Many Latin Americans, including the former President of Uruguay, spoke out in support of Lopez, who is also the leader of the Venezuelan opposition political party, Voluntad Popular. Democracy activists organized under #LiberenAleopoldo to call for the release of Lopez, as well…
On October 28, 2016, Eduard Palchys, Belarusian blogger and founder of the website 1863x.com, was released from prison after 9 months in pre-trial detention. After being released, Palchys credited the international solidarity efforts for his release, stating, “…I thought they would imprison me for three years. The sentence is the result of the civil society’s…