Sakharov laureate González promises return to Venezuela 'by land, air or sea'

Venezuela opposition dissident Edmundo González Urrutia walked unsteadily down the corridors of the European Parliament on Tuesday after receiving the Sakharov prize, but remained firm of purpose on returning to Venezuela after 10 January, saying you don't go to war "with fear".

10 January marks entry into power of the Latin American state's new President. That's Nicolás Maduro, according to Venezuelan authorities, but his victory in the presidential election held on the 28th of July was questioned by a United Nations panel of experts, as well as by the US and EU.

"The vast majority of the electorate firmly expressed themselves in favour of me," González told Euronews on Tuesday of the election on 28 July, after receiving the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought from the Parliament's President Roberta Metsola in a ceremony in Strasbourg. His co-laureate María Corina Machado, leader of Venezuela's Unity Democratic Platform, is still in Venezuela keeping her current location hidden from the authorities, and was represented by her daughter Ana Corina Sosa.

González by contrast left the country in September after a warrant was issued for his arrest and fled to Spain, which granted him political asylum. 

He has consistently denounced the Venezuelan government’s failure to publish the official results of the presidential elections, and brought evidence of the votes in favour of his candidacy to the European Parliament’s press room. 

And he is now ready to return, defying the Venezuela’s government’s attitude, described as “unprecedented” repression by the United Nations, with thousands of people detained in the aftermath of the protests that followed the elections. “I’ll be back to Venezuela by land, air or sea,” González told