Chavez foe, congressman-elect, released after student-led hunger strike in Venezuela

[The Northerner]

CARACAS, Venezuela — A congressman-elect said on Wednesday he has been released from house arrest, apparently because of a three-week hunger strike by students who demanded that opponents of President Hugo Chavez be freed.

Biagio Pilieri was elected to Venezuela's congress in September, but has been unable to take his seat due to charges he was involved in corruption during his 2000-2004 tenure as mayor of the western city of Bruzual. Pilieri told the Globovision television channel that he was eager to enter the National Assembly.

It is not clear if he is now able to serve. Pilieri's attorney, Norma Delgado, told Union Radio he was granted "conditional liberty," meaning the charges against him remain active and he must appear in court periodically.

Pilieri denied any wrongdoing: "We've shown that we are innocent."

Pilieri's release came a day after dozens of student activists ended a hunger strike that began on Jan. 31 to demand the release of more than two dozen Chavez foes they consider political prisoners.

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