Caracas area mayor Ramon Muchacho has been removed and sent to 15 months of imprisonment by the Venezuela's pro-government Supreme Court amid massive protests against President Nicolas Maduro.
Despite growing international criticism, Maduro has remained firm in pressing the constitutional assembly forward in executing his priorities.
President Nicolas Maduro's all-powerful constitutional assembly is forging ahead on promises to punish the embattled leader's foes.
Venezuelans voted on July 30 and elected a 545-member constituent assembly that gave Maduro new powers by dissolving state institutions.
New Constituent assembly will rewrite the constitution .
The new constitutional assembly has signalled it will act swiftly in following Maduro's commands, voting to replace chief prosecutor Luisa Ortega Diaz with a government loyalist and to create a "truth commission" that will wield unusual power to prosecute and levy sentences, The Independent reported.
The responsibility for human rights violations in Venezuela "lies at the highest level of government," the United Nations human rights office has said.
"We are concerned that the situation in Venezuela is escalating and these human rights violations show no signs of abating," The newspaper quoted UN human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani as saying.
Venezuelan security forces have wielded excessive force to suppress protests, killing dozens, and have arbitrarily detained 5,000 people since April, including 1,000 still in custody.
It said it had investigated 124 deaths in connection with demonstrations against President Nicolas Maduro's government, and found 46 attributable to security forces and 27 to pro-government armed groups, with the rest unclear.
The team said violations included "house raids, torture and ill-treatment of those detained in connection with the protests."
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein said in a statement: "These violations have occurred amid the breakdown of the rule of law in Venezuela, with constant attacks by the Government against the National Assembly and the Attorney-General's Office."
The U.S. Treasury Department slapped sanctions against 13 Venezuelan government officials. "As President Trump has made clear, the United States will not ignore the Maduro regime's ongoing efforts to undermine democracy, freedom and the rule of law," Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin said in a statement.
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