Maduro asks Venezuela high court to scrap opposition amnesty

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has said he would ask the Supreme Court to strike down an amnesty law passed by opposition lawmakers to free those they describe as political prisoners.
The leftist leader, who is fighting off the ascendant opposition's bid to force him from power, yesterday told a crowd of thousands of red-clad supporters he had decided to ask the court to invalidate the "criminal" amnesty bill.
Maduro accused the opposition of trying to sow divisions by passing the bill, in a nationally televised speech punctuated by shouts of "Justice!" from supporters outside the presidential palace.
"If this law is approved, Venezuela will enter into a cycle of civil war. We cannot allow it. Division and hatred will not reign in Venezuela. For there to be peace, there must be justice," Maduro said.

The president had until Saturday to sign the bill, send it back to the legislature for changes or challenge it before the Supreme Court.
Earlier yesterday, Maduro supporters and opposition activists clashed in a rock-hurling brawl triggered by an opposition campaign to organise a recall vote to oust the president before the end of his term in 2019.

Maduro and the National Assembly have been at each other's throats since the opposition took control of the legislature in January.
Fed up with a deep recession, severe shortages and violent crime, Venezuelans gave the opposition a landslide victory in legislative elections, the biggest challenge yet to the "revolution" launched in 1999 by Maduro's late predecessor and mentor, Hugo Chavez.

One of the touchiest issues is some 75 opposition figures the amnesty bill describes as political prisoners, including figures like protest leader Leopoldo Lopez.
Lopez was sentenced to 14 years in September on charges of inciting violence at anti-government protests that shook the country in 2014 and left 43 people dead.
His jailing has drawn international condemnation.
But Maduro, who accuses his opponents of seeking to oust him in a coup, said the bill, which was passed on March 29, aimed to free criminals.
He announced he would instead launch a "truth, justice and reparations commission" to deal with jailed opposition activists' cases.