Venezuelan Parliament pays homage to councilman Fernando Albán

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"The dictatorship kills political prisoners," said a poster held by Lilian Tintori, wife of opposition political leader Leopoldo López., During the ceremony in tribute to councilman Fernando Albán

"The dictatorship kills political prisoners," said a poster that was held during the ceremony by Lilian Tintori, wife of the opposition political leader Leopoldo López, who remains under house arrest after years in a military prison. Members of Primero Justicia said that the councilman's arrest was due to recent allegations of human rights violations in Venezuela that he recently made in meetings in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

The councilman was arrested on October 5, when he arrived in the country from a visit to his wife and two children living in the United States, for his alleged participation in the explosion in August of two drones during a military parade led by the president. Nicolás Maduro, Interior Minister Néstor Reverol informed Monday. Reverol added that Albán was in the waiting room on the 10th floor of the headquarters of the national intelligence agency (Sebin) when he jumped out of a window.

The opposition Venezuelan National Assembly on Tuesday honored a councilman who, according to authorities, committed suicide by jumping from a tenth floor in a government intelligence agency, Sebin, where he was detained, but his party says he was killed. The coffin of municipal legislator Fernando Alban, 56, was placed in the internal garden of the Parliament and covered with the tricolor flag of Venezuela, while groups of opposition deputies stood guard at the foot of the coffin. People passed one by one next to Albán's coffin, also adorned by his sister with a picture of the religious councilman in the shadow of Jesus Christ.

The minister's version differs from that of the attorney general, Tarek Saab, who said in televised statements that Albán had asked to use a bathroom and jumped from there. The National Assembly held a parliamentary session in honor of the councilman, the first of several acts before the funeral scheduled for Wednesday, to which representatives of the Diplomatic Corps accredited in the country were invited. The president of the National Assembly, Omar Barboza, said that "the limits of the violation of human rights in the country have been trespassed" with the death of the councilman in the hands of the government's intelligence service. "Only the Maduro regime is responsible for the murder of Fernando Albán," said Deputy Delsa Solórzano, of the Un Nuevo Tiempo party.

The legislator, a lawyer who accompanies cases of arrested students, politicians and activists, said that no one arrested can go alone to the bathroom and on the contrary they are always escorted, in places that usually have windows sealed by the authorities, and from there the doubts in around the case. Joel García, one of Albán's defense lawyers, told reporters at the Assembly that the autopsy performed at the national morgue reported severe trauma to the skull, chest, hip and "fall from height." But he pointed out that hours before the event, he found the arrested councilman calm. Former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles, of the same party as Albán, Primero Justicia, said the councilman "did not commit suicide, Fernando's family and we compañeros have the right to demand an investigation."

In a resolution passed after the session, President Nicolás Maduro is directly blamed for the death of Albán and they ask the government to allow international experts appointed by the OAS or the Inter-American Human Rights System to enter the country to investigate. Maduro has not ruled on the councilor's death. The Human Rights Office of the United Nations, the diplomatic service of the European Union and the US Embassy in Caracas requested on Tuesday an independent investigation into the death of Albán. In Geneva, UN human rights spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said that "we understand there are conflicting reports about exactly what happened" with the councilman. "In fact, we asked for a transparent and independent investigation to clarify the circumstances of his death," the official said at a press conference.