Venezuelan Maduro Vows to Sue President of Opposition-Controlled Parliament
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said he was planning to sue the leader of opposition-controlled National Assembly, Julio Borges, amid the political crisis in the country.
"He will be brought to justice for all the harm he did to Venezuela," Maduro's Thursday statement read as quoted by the Globovision channel.
According to the president, Borges has recently returned from abroad, where had been since November 29. Maduro believes that the parliament's president is being used by US President Donald Trump against Venezuela, Sputnik reported.
Borges has repeatedly criticized the president and his government for turning the country into a dictatorship and called on the international community to react to Maduro's actions. The United States and the European Union, in particular, have imposed rounds of sanctions on the country's officials and restricted the government's access to US financial systems and arms sales to the crisis-torn country.
In December, Borges went to Strasbourg as the representative of the Venezuelan opposition to receive the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. During the speech, the opposition figure urged the world to closely watch the situation in the country due to the upcoming presidential election.
Venezuela has been experiencing a severe political crisis since the country's Supreme Court decided to restrict the power of the legislative body in March 2017. The move triggered large-scale protests led by the opposition, which were further fueled by the National Constituent Assembly election, initiated by Maduro with the intention of rewriting the constitution.
Since September 2017 the sides have held three rounds of talks hosted by the Dominican Republic. The talks are expected to resume on January 11 and will focus on normalizing the situation in the country.
