CARACAS, Venezuela _ As news spread Saturday that Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez had unexpectedly been granted house arrest, hundreds of people crowded into his neighborhood chanting anti-government slogans and waiting to hear from the man who has become a symbol of the nation's growing and chaotic resistance.
Venezuela's Supreme Court said Saturday morning that it had transferred Lopez from the Ramo Verde prison, where he's been since 2014 serving a sentence of about 14 years, because it had detected "irregularities" in his case and due to "information received about the health of the political leader."
Lopez's wife, Lilian Tintori, who has been agitating for his release, confirmed Saturday that he was home.
Lopez's release came during heightened tensions in the South American nation, which has been hammered by more than three months of anti-government protests in which more than 90 people have died.
And while opposition leaders were quick to say that his transfer was not the outright freedom they are demanding, there are hopes that the concession might help ease the crisis.
Lopez, 46, a former presidential candidate, is one of Venezuela's best-known and popular political leaders. He was jailed in 2014 and sentenced to 13 years and nine months for his role in widespread protests that year in which than 40 people were killed. While the government held him responsible for inciting violence, civil rights groups called his private trial a farce.
"Terms like 'kangaroo court' or 'sham trial' do not begin to describe what happened to Lopez since his arrest in 2014 ... the conviction should have been vacated immediately," Garry Kasparov, chairman of the New York-based Human Rights Foundation, said in a statement Saturday. "The dictatorship is crumbling fast in Venezuela, and this surprising decision (to transfer Lopez) may be a catalyst to recuperate democracy in Venezuela."
The government has long insisted that the man they call "the Monster of Ramo Verde" would not be eligible for house arrest. And Lopez himself in recent weeks said he wouldn't accept such an offer until all political prisoners were released.
Even so, his transfer was being received as welcome news amid widespread violence that was edging closer to outright civil war. On Wednesday, Venezuela's independence day, a pro-government mob broke into the National Assembly and beat opposition lawmakers.
"It's good news that Leopoldo Lopez is back with his family," Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said in a Twitter post. "We insist that Venezuela must persevere in reaching dialogue and finding a peaceful solution."
U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., called the news "somewhat" welcome.
"This half-measure by the Maduro regime to distract the Venezuelan people will not end the demand for Leopoldo's unconditional freedom and will not end the calls for freedom, democracy, and the respect of human rights for all Venezuelans," she said in a statement. "There must be an immediate cessation of violence in Venezuela. Already the toll is too high with over 80 killed and thousands unjustly arrested or injured in the past three months alone."
Demonstrators have said they will stay on the streets until the government calls general elections, allows humanitarian aid and releases more than 300 people they consider political prisoners.
Maduro has said he will serve out his term through 2019 and is pushing ahead with a plan to overhaul the constitution.
