National Assembly deputy Edgar Zambrano was freed from regime custody this evening after spending 135 in prison, mostly in isolation. Zambrano’s release was announced by attorney general Tarek William Saab, who said in a tweet that the measure came from the regime’s Truth, Justice, Peace and Public Calm Commission, a body that was nominally created to help ensure a peaceful resolution to the country’s political crisis.
Zambrano’s release also comes just a day after a minority faction of the opposition signed an agreement with the Maduro regime promising to work together towards a resolution of the political crisis in the country. The move fits a long-established pattern in which the Maduro regime releases a high-profile political prisoner in an attempt to curb public opinion.
Speaking to reporters shortly after his release, Zambrano made clear that he never should have been arrested in the first place because he was an innocent man. Zambrano said:
[I don’t have] Stockholm Syndrome. I’m not going to thank either the people who kidnapped me [the Maduro regime] or any pseudo-opposition for freeing me.
I did not commit any crime. I was kidnapped and almost killed by this regime only for thinking differently.
Zambrano also told reporters that he was “kidnapped” in the middle of the night by a group of men who “never identified themselves” and who did not present an arrest warrant.
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