Venezuelan authorities on Saturday arrested a major opposition leader, Daniel Ceballos, stating that the arrest was to prevent his efforts at destabilizing the country [BBC report]. Ceballos, the former mayor of San Cristobal, was arrested in March 2014, accused of inciting violence during a wave of protests against the government. However, Ceballos was released and placed on house arrest last year for medical reasons. The opposition has claimed Ceballos is a political prisoner, arrested only to quiet dissent amid cries for recalling President Nicolas Maduro. Due to many issues in the country, the opposition has called for a march on the capital on September 1 to seek a referendum on the recall of Maduro [AFP report].

Earlier this month a Venezuelan appeals court in Caracas upheld the more than 13-year sentence [JURIST report] of another opposition leader, Leopoldo López. The tension between the executive, legislative and judiciary branches of government in Venezuela has served as a hostile condition against López. In March Venezuela’s National Assembly approved [JURIST report] an amnesty law that would free 77 individuals allegedly jailed for political reasons under a number of crimes, including López, but Maduro has vowed to veto the law. In November UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein called for [JURIST report] the protection of political opposition leaders associated with an assassinated Venezuelan opposition leader while he was on state with López’s wife, Lilian Tintori. In October, a former Caracas prosecutor confessed [JURIST report] to being pressured into presenting false evidence to condemn opposition leader López.