Venezuela Opposition Leader Lopez Released to House Arrest

Jailed Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez has been released from prison and transferred to house arrest for health reasons, after spending more than three years in a military prison, Lopez’s attorney and Venezuela’s Supreme Court said Saturday.

A court statement said Lopez was granted the “humanitarian measure” for health reasons, and on its Twitter account the court said the move was granted Friday by the court’s president, Maikel Moreno.

The 46-year-old Lopez was detained in February 2014 for allegedly inciting violence during anti-government protests in which three people died and dozens were wounded. A year later he was sentenced to nearly 14 years in prison.

“Leopoldo Lopez is at his home in Caracas with [his wife] Lilian and his children,” Lopez’s Spanish lawyer Javier Cremades said in Madrid. “He is not yet free but under house arrest. He was released at dawn.”