Venezuelan politician accused of drone assassination plot dies after ‘jumping’ to his death from 10th floor of notorious intelligence headquarters
The official suicide claim drew swift denial from opposition leaders
Venezuela’s government said that a jailed opposition lawmaker killed himself by jumping from the 10th floor of the state intelligence agency headquarters (SEBIN) where he was being held, but his party said he was murdered by the government.
Municipal lawmaker Fernando Alban, 56, was jailed last Friday for alleged involvement in the explosion of two drones during a military parade in August that was led by President Nicolas Maduro, Interior Minister Nestor Reverol said.
“At the moment he was going to be transported to court, while he was in the SEBIN waiting room, he jumped from the window of the building and fell, causing his death,” Reverol wrote in a post on Twitter Monday.
That account differed from the one by Chief Prosecutor Tarek Saab, who said in televised statements that Alban had asked to use a bathroom and jumped from there.
The opposition First Justice party, for which Alban was a Caracas municipal councillor, said he was murdered.
