The Diplomat
Venezuela’s Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) has asked Spain to extradite opposition politician Leopoldo López, who left his country late last October clandestinely across the Colombian border.
In a statement issued yesterday, the Supreme Court said that the extradition of López has been requested so that he can serve the remainder of his sentence in Venezuela.
The same statement points out that the sentence he must serve is “eight years, six months, 25 days and 12 hours” for the crimes of “being an arsonist, an arsonist in the crime of damage, author of the crime of public instigation and association”.
Leopoldo López arrived in Spain after fleeing Venezuela on 24 October last year, and after having spent 18 months in the Spanish ambassador’s residence in Caracas, where he was a guest while he was wanted by the local justice system and accused of being a terrorist by the Chavista government.
The opposition member entered the ambassador’s residence after he was released from house arrest on 30 April 2019 to join an attempted military uprising led by the opposition leader Juan Guaidó.
