Venezuela has freed 17 political prisoners, the X Committee for Human Rights of the opposition movement Vente Venezuela announced online.
The NGO CLIPPVE separately reported the release of political prisoners, including 10 men and seven women from the Zona 7 prison in Caracas.
Relatives gathered outside the prison joined a hunger strike launched by prisoners after only 17 of more than 50 detainees were released, human rights organizations said.
CLIPPVE states that the protest is a demand that the government fulfill a promise made last week by Jorge Rodriguez, the president of the National Assembly of Venezuela, that all those held in the center will be granted freedom, Reuters reports.
Venezuela has been gradually releasing detainees since the United States captured President Nicolas Maduro on January 3, but the process has drawn criticism from human rights organizations and families, who say the pace is slow and there is a lack of transparency.
The releases come after Venezuelan lawmakers on Thursday postponed a debate on an amnesty law, which would allow immediate pardons for people imprisoned for participating in political protests.
The organization Foro Penal said it had confirmed more than 430 releases of political prisoners since January 8, although that number does not include those who have been transferred to house arrest.
The group estimated on Saturday that more than 644 political prisoners remain in prisons, including 47 people whose whereabouts are unknown and 57 people who were recently reported as prisoners.
The government denies holding political prisoners and claims those arrested committed crimes. Officials have reported a much higher number of releases, nearly 900, including releases from previous years.
The government has never released an official list of how many prisoners will be released, nor who they are.
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