Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, the opposition candidate from Venezuela who believes he is the legitimate victor of the nation’s presidential election, disobeyed a summons from the Supreme Court on Wednesday on the contentious results.
Without providing comprehensive results, the electoral authorities proclaimed President Nicolas Maduro the victor of the July 28 election, which incited the opposition to protest and resulted in rallies last week that, according to rights groups, claimed at least 24 lives.
Numerous nations have declared Gonzalez Urrutia the victor and urged Venezuela to release election results, including the US and numerous Latin American countries.
Maduro took the case to the Supreme Court in an attempt to have his victory “validated.” Maduro has demanded that Gonzalez Urrutia and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado be imprisoned.
Election authorities said they had handed the election data to the court — both institutions are widely considered to be loyal to Maduro’s government.
The 74-year-old Gonzalez Urrutia, who had been summoned to appear in court on Wednesday morning, said he doubted how impartial the procedure would be.
“I will be jeopardizing not only my freedom but, more importantly: the will of the Venezuelan people expressed on July 28,” he said on social media.
He claimed that Maduro had warned “that if I do not appear, I will incur legal responsibilities, and that if I appear and file copies (of voting records), there will also be serious criminal responsibilities.”
Caryslia Rodriguez, the court president, pointed out his “failure to comply with the summons.”
