Above photo: Venezuelan extreme-right former presidential candidate Edmundo González Urrutia. File photo.
The former Venezuelan presidential candidate for the extreme-right Unitary Platform, Edmundo González, disobeyed for the third time the summons of the Public Ministry (MP), where he had been called to testify as a person under investigation for several crimes.
Edmundo González was supposed to go to the Attorney General’s Office at 10 a.m. (Caracas time) this Friday.
González has been accused of usurpation of functions, forging of public documents, incitement to disobedience of laws, cyber crimes, criminal association, and conspiracy.
Currently, the MP is investigating the extreme-right politician for the publication of alleged voting records on the webpage resultadosconvzla.com, which constitutes usurpation of functions of the National Electoral Council (CNE).
A criminal investigation is being carried out against those responsible for the publication of the allegedly false records and maintenance of the web page, given that such false information generates anxiety among the population.
González was initially supposed to report to the MP headquarters last Monday when the first summons was stipulated, but he did not comply. Thereafter, a second summons was issued for Tuesday, which he did not attend either.
When issuing the third summons, the MP stated that if González ignored the third summons as well, an arrest warrant would be issued against him because “he presents a flight risk.”
“In accordance with the Venezuelan laws, if the said citizen does not appear before the Public Ministry on the specified date, the respective arrest warrant will be issued considering that he presents a flight risk, foreseen in article 237, and the danger of obstruction of investigations, foreseen in article 238 of the Organic Code of Criminal Procedure,” read the MP statement.
In this context, it is expected that the Attorney General’s Office will soon make a statement specifying the new measures to be adopted in the case.
González’s noncompliance with Venezuelan institutions is nothing new, given that he did not attend the summons issued by the Electoral Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ), in which he was supposed to present the alleged voting records in his party’s possession.