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| - The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) said Friday it was deeply concerned about the worsening intimidation of opposition lawmakers in Venezuela, with many fleeing for protection. As some seek shelter in foreign embassies, Paris on Friday denied the Venezuelan foreign minister's claim that opposition leader Juan Guaido had been given refuge at France's mission in Caracas. The Geneva-based IPU, which brings together 179 national parliaments, said it was monitoring the cases of dozens of MPs opposed to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Since January 2016, the overwhelming majority of those parliamentarians "have been attacked, detained or intimidated by security forces or government supporters because of their political opinions," the IPU said in a statement. The IPU said that in recent months, at least 17 opposition MPs had gone into exile, sought refuge in foreign embassies or gone into hiding, while six have been barred from holding public office and at least 13 have had their passports cancelled or confiscated. At least 18 suffered graffiti attacks on their homes between March 28 and 30, the IPU added. "Much of the intimidation is getting worse and worse," the IPU's human rights programme manager Rogier Huizenga told reporters. Venezuela has been in political turmoil since 2019, when Guaido used his position as speaker of parliament to declare himself acting president, branding Maduro a usurper over his 2018 re-election in a poll widely derided as rigged. The IPU said it was concerned about four MPs being detained in the country. "We are deeply worried about their conditions of detention and also about the accusations that have been levelled against them, because we have no indication whatsoever that due process is being followed here," said Huizenga. The IPU's committee on the human rights of parliamentarians voiced concerns for all 43 MPs being held in detention around the world, highlighting the cases of those in Venezuela, Turkey and Ivory Coast and demanding their release. In Turkey, "a country of long concern", the IPU is examining alleged human rights violations against 57 current or former opposition parliamentarians, seven of whom are in prison. More than 600 criminal and terrorism charges -- including charges of defamation of the government -- have been brought against Turkish parliamentarians since 2015, the IPU said. In Ivory Coast, the IPU is examining the cases of 10 opposition MPs who have allegedly suffered violations of their fundamental rights since 2018, including arbitrary arrest and detention. "They are being accused of having spread fake news, of having challenged the authority of the state... even though there are no material indications that they were involved in any of that," said Huizenga. rjm/dl
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