Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez began his trial on Wednesday after being charged with inciting violence during early demonstrations, according to Reuters.
Days after the demonstrations began in mid-February, Lopez turned himself in to authorities and has been in a military jail since, but protests continued for about three months, Reuters reported.
Lopez was arrested after he spoke at a rally that saw some activists clash with police after most protesters had gone home, according to Reuters. The demonstration marked the start of three months of deadly street protests.
A Caracas court heard accusations against him of inciting crime and being the intellectual author of damages and arson, Reuters reported.
Riot police and National Guard troops were out Wednesday blocking access to the court where Lopez's trial was scheduled, Reuters reported. If convicted, the Harvard University-educated Lopez could face years in prison.
Lopez testified that his call to protest "was framed in the constitution that guarantees peaceful and non-violent protest," the attorney said, according to Reuters.
Defense lawyer Juan Carlos Gutierrez said after the hearing adjourned in the evening that Lopez defended the calling of demonstrations against President Nicolas Maduro's socialist government, Reuters reported.
Judge Susana Barreiros, who is presiding over the trial, said the next session would be held Aug. 6, Reuters reported.
Lopez has remained in a jail cell while the protest movement has mostly died down and opposition leaders have begun to fight among themselves, but he has become a cause celebre for critics of Venezuela's socialist government, according to Reuters.
In recent months, several opposition leaders have been targeted in Venezuela's courts, including former lawmaker Maria Corina Machado, who was also involved in the February protests and has been barred from leaving the country, Reuters reported.
Asked to comment about the trial at a news conference in his presidential palace, Maduro, describing the question as "provocative", lambasted Lopez and urged punishment, according to Reuters.
"The leader of the ultra-right is responsible for crimes, violence, destruction, (loss of) human lives. He planned it. He's a pawn of the gringos (Americans), not just now, but from very young. He has a messianic vision, that he was born to be a leader, the president of Venezuela," Maduro said, Reuters reported.
