Venezuela’s judiciary has definitively closed the criminal case against former judge María Lourdes Afiuni and granted her full freedom, her family announced on 7 August 2026. The decision formally ends a process that her brother Nelson Afiuni and family lawyer Thelma Fernández described as “a case that should never have existed”. Afiuni had been under conditional release since 2013, subject to a ban on leaving the city, speaking to the press or on social media, voting, and holding a passport, as well as a political disqualification.

In a statement, the family said the closure represents “the end of a long and painful chapter marked by grave violations of human rights and due process”. They argued that the prosecution, which began after then-president Hugo Chávez publicly called Afiuni a “bandida” and demanded a 30-year prison term, turned her into “an unequivocal symbol of the deterioration of judicial independence in Venezuela”. The judge was originally detained in December 2009 for granting bail to banker Eligio Cedeño, and in 2019 was convicted of “spiritual corruption” – a charge the prosecution itself acknowledged involved no economic benefit.

The family also disclosed that Afiuni recently required emergency medical care for dizziness, vomiting and hypertension, and that three tumour lesions were detected. They urged authorities to lift all remaining restrictions so she can access specialised treatment and reunite with her only daughter. The statement stressed that the closure “does not erase the suffering endured nor, by itself, repair the damage caused”, and warned that the case should serve as a warning across the region against using the justice system as an instrument of reprisal.

The ruling arrives seven months after US forces captured Nicolás Maduro in Caracas, an event that has triggered the release of hundreds of political prisoners and the lifting of restrictions on thousands of others, according to authorities. It also coincides with the start of a government-opposition dialogue under US supervision, which both sides hope will lead to a political transition and elections. The family expressed confidence that the decision could mark “the beginning of an indispensable reflection on the need to rebuild judicial independence in Venezuela”.