A Venezuelan court has handed down prison sentences ranging up to 30 years for 29 individuals convicted of involvement in a failed attempt to overthrow President Nicolas Maduro's government. The thwarted operation, known as Operation Gedeon, was disrupted by Caracas in May 2020, resulting in the deaths of eight participants at the hands of the military.

The incursion, which aimed to invade Venezuela by sea from Colombia with the goal of toppling Maduro, was allegedly led by retired soldiers and foreign mercenaries and purportedly financed by the opposition, although Caracas denied these claims. Both the United States and the opposition denied any involvement in the operation.

Attorney General Tarek William Saab announced on Wednesday that 20 of the defendants received the maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, while the remaining nine were sentenced to 21 years. The charges against them included terrorism, treason, and trafficking in weapons of war.

Saab described the sentencing as a step towards closure of a dark chapter in Venezuelan history, reiterating allegations of foreign involvement in the operation aimed at assassinating high-ranking officials, including Maduro.

The Coalition for Human Rights and Democracy released the names of those sentenced, including Josnars Adolfo Baduel, the son of a general who had opposed Maduro's predecessor, Hugo Chavez. Baduel's sister, Andreina, claimed her brother had been subjected to torture while in detention and denounced his sentence as unjust, alleging that the judiciary had been influenced by the state.

Saab disclosed that some individuals involved in the failed mission remain at large. In the previous year, he had accused former opposition leader Juan Guaido of financing the operation with US funds, which were under his control at the time. Additionally, two American ex-soldiers were initially sentenced to 20 years in prison in Venezuela but were later released in a prisoner exchange.

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