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Venezuelan opposition politician Juan Requesens was sentenced to 8 years in prison by a court that found him guilty of conspiring against President Nicolás Maduro.
Requesens was arrested three days after a drone carrying explosives exploded during a military parade led by Maduro, on August 4, 2018.
The president was not injured in the attack.
For two years, Requesens was held in the helicoidone of the intelligence police headquarters in Caracas, until in mid-2020 he received a house arrest measure.
The leader, who has been a deputy and leader of the student movement against Chavismo, has denied having participated in the attack.
His family says he has been persecuted in retaliation for his political activism against the Maduro government, after gaining popularity for organizing anti-government protests in 2014.
Cottage cheese was chosen deputy of the National Assemblywhere he made a name for himself through fiery speeches in which he said he would not stop fighting until Maduro was removed from the presidency.
His attorney, Joel Garcia, said he had been found guilty of the crime of conspiracy for the incident at the military parade
Surprise attack
While the paradea small drone carrying explosives detonated in the air, near the stage where the president and high-ranking army officers were.
Maduro’s bodyguards rushed to protect him. All the people who were on stage were unharmed.
However, seven members of the National Guard were injured during the stampede to escape the blast.
Maduro was quick to blame Requesens and another opposition lawmaker, Julio Borgesfor the attack.
Borges, who was living in exile, dismissed the accusation as a “farce”, but Requesens was arrested by the secret police.
At the time, Maduro said that Requesens was “one of the craziest conspiratorsagainst his life and charges ranging from conspiracy to treason were brought against him.
The attorney general, Tarek Saab, reported that 17 people were convicted of the attack, of which 12 were sentenced to 30 years in prison for crimes such as treason and homicide. The others received sentences of 24, 20, 16, 8 and 5 years in prison for terrorism conspiracy, Saab added.
Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó has pointed out that Requesens is a political prisoner.
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