Venezuelan politician Leopoldo Lopez “represents all prisoners of conscience in the world,” Spanish lawyer Javier Cremades said Monday in Caracas.
Cremades is in Caracas to work with the legal team defending Lopez, one of Venezuela’s most prominent opposition leaders.
“This is not a cause for Venezuela, this is a global cause, an international cause, Leopoldo Lopez represents all prisoners of conscience in the world today. There are other heroes with him, almost 100, in jail wrongfully,” Cremades said.
The lawyer arrived in the capital on Sunday with former Spanish Justice Minister Alberto Ruiz Gallardon.
Cremades and Ruiz Gallardon were to take part in an appeal hearing for Lopez, who was sentenced to nearly 14 years in prison for violence that occurred during an anti-government march.
The hearing, however, was suspended because one of the judges became ill on Monday.
The new date for the hearing has not been announced.
The suspension of the hearing coincided with the visit of Cremades and Ruiz Gallardon, who traveled to Caracas to advise Lopez’s defense team.
Cremades criticized officials for transferring Lopez from the prison where he is being held on the outskirts of Caracas to the court only to have the hearing suspended at the last minute.
On Monday evening, Cremades and Ruiz Gallardon hope to visit Lopez at the military prison.
Other foreign politicians have tried to visit Lopez, but only former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero was able to meet with the opposition leader.
