Venezuela's government gives 131 prisoners alternative detention measures

Aug 14 (Reuters) - Venezuela's ‌government has ​given ​131 detained prisoners "alternative liberty restriction measures", it said in a statement on Friday, ‌as human rights groups hailed releases of some ⁠people they say were being held unjustly or for ‌political reasons.

The people had ‌been detained for their alleged or confirmed participation in crimes, the government said in a ​statement shared by communications minister Miguel Perez Pirela on X, and were given the alternative measures, ⁠which the statement did not detail, as part of the government's ​Peace and Democratic Coexistence program.

"Not everyone has been released, and they all deserve full ​freedom; let’s continue to demand ‌this tirelessly until every citizen is reunited with their family," Dinorah Figuera, ⁠who is leading an opposition delegation at U.S.-backed negotiations with Venezuela's interim government, wrote on X following Pirela's ⁠announcement.

Rights groups including Foro Penal, which provides legal representation ​for prisoners in Venezuela, as well as the country's Vente Venezuela opposition movement, celebrated a number of the releases ‌via posts on their own social media. Foro Penal said earlier on Friday ‌there are 391 political prisoners in the country, ⁠but added in ‌a separate post ​that it had confirmed 29 releases as of 4:30pm local time.

(Reporting by Julia Symmes ‌Cobb)

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