At a news conference on Saturday Jorge Rodr\u00edguez said 1,557 release requests were being addressed “immediately” and ultimately the legislation would extend to 11,000 prisoners.<\/p>\n
The government first announced days after Maduro’s capture, on 8 January, that “a significant number” of prisoners would be freed as a goodwill gesture.<\/p>\n
Opposition and human rights groups have said the government under Maduro used detentions of political prisoners to stamp out dissent and silence critics for years. <\/p>\n
These groups have also criticised the new law. One frequently cited criticism is that it would not extend amnesty to those who called for foreign armed intervention in Venezuela, BBC Latin America specialist Luis Fajardo says.<\/p>\n
He noted that law professor Juan Carlos Apitz, of the Central University of Venezuela, told CNN Espa\u00f1ol that that part of the amnesty law “has a name and surname”. “That paragraph is the Maria Corina Machado paragraph.” <\/p>\n
It is not clear if the amnesty would actually cover Machado, who won last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, Fajardo said.<\/p>\n
He added that other controversial aspects of the law include the apparent exclusion from amnesty benefits of dozens of military officers involved in rebellions against the Maduro administration over the years.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, Rodr\u00edguez said it is “releases from Zona Seven of El Helicoide that they’re handling first”. <\/p>\n
Those jailed at the infamous prison<\/a> in Caracas would be released “over the next few hours”, he added.<\/p>\n Activists say some family members of those imprisoned in the facility have gone on hunger strike<\/a> to demand the release of their relatives.<\/p>\n