Venezuela faces calls for investigation after death of opposition activist
Caracas, Venezuela - Venezuela faced international calls on Tuesday for a ‘transparent investigation’ into the death in custody of an opposition member who the government said threw himself from a 10th-floor window of the headquarters of the state intelligence services.
Fernando Alban, a 52 year old Caracas city council member accused of taking part in a failed drone attack on President Nicolas Maduro, was in pretrial detention on Monday at the time of his death, which the government presented as a suicide.
Attorney General Tarek Saab said on state television that Alban, who had been arrested on Friday, asked to go to the restroom and threw himself from a window.
The death sparked expressions of concern by the United Nations and the European Union, both of which called for a probe.
The US Embassy in Caracas said the death was ‘suspicious’. In August, the United States condemned alleged ar- bitrary detentions and forced confessions by the Venezuelan government in its investigation of the drone incident.
The coffin containing Alban’s body was taken to the legislature, where - wrapped in a yellow, blue and red Venezuelan flag - it was placed in the garden and surrounded by politicians and relatives. The mourners included Alban’s elderly parents and sister.‘My father died fighting for democracy and freedom in Venezuela’, his son Fernando wrote on Twitter.
The legislature is the seat of the opposition-majority national assembly but its power has been usurped by a new lawmaking body - the all-powerful Constituent Assembly created by Maduro.
Outraged opposition lawmakers nevertheless agreed a resolution recognising the government’s ‘responsibility’ for Alban’s death, and calling on the United Nations and the Organization of American States to designate ‘independent’ experts to investigate.