UN urges probe into ‘suicide’ of dissident
Questions and condemnation of Venezuela’s leadership poured in yesterday following the suspicious death of an opposition activist who authorities say evaded justice by throwing himself from the 10th floor of a police building.
Fernando Alban was arrested at the weekend at Caracas’ international airport upon arrival from a trip to New York to galvanise world opinion against President Nicolas Maduro’s socialist government.
The country’s chief prosecutor said that Alban killed himself on Tuesday by leaping from the 10th floor of the state police agency’s headquarters, where he was being held for alleged involvement in an international plot to kill Maduro using explosiveladen drones.
But opposition leaders, backed by several foreign governments, have cast doubt on the official version, and accused Maduro’s government of torture and murdering the politician.
The US State Department said it condemns what it called a human rights violation, while Spain’s leftist government called for consultations the Venezuelan ambassador in Madrid over the death.
Meanwhile, the United Nations urged officials in Caracas to launch an impartial probe to resolve the conflicting versions of how Alban died.
‘‘There are so many different reports and quite a lot of speculation on exactly what happened,’’ said Ravina Shamdasani of the UN’s top human rights office in Geneva. ‘‘Whether Mr Alban committed suicide, whether he was thrown, or what exactly happened.’’
As international criticism of Maduro’s government grew, Alban’s family, fellow politicians and family members of other jailed activists paid a final tribute to him yesterday in a ceremony at the opposition-controlled Congress.
A who’s who of opposition leaders took turns filing past Alban’s casket, draped in the Venezuelan flag, while his griefstricken sister placed a framed portrait of her deeply religious brother shadowed by an image of Jesus Christ.
Hours after his death, a few dozen of Alban’s supporters gathered outside the police building yelling ‘‘Maduro killer!’’ contending that he had been murdered.
They later assembled outside Caracas’ morgue to demand his body be handed over as rumors spread he would be cremated to hide evidence of possible torture.
‘‘There’s no doubt this was an assassination,’’ opposition leader Julio Borges said in a video from exile in neighbouring Colombia, without providing evidence of his claim.
‘‘The only thing left for this government is torture, violence and destruction.’’
The opposition claims that more than 100 Venezuelans opposed to Maduro are being held as ‘‘political prisoners’’. – AP