The Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo González was given refuge in the Dutch embassy in Caracas for a month following the disputed elections in the country on July 28, foreign minister Caspar Veldkamp told MPs in a briefing.

González, who has now been given political asylum in Spain following a warrant for his arrest, had asked the Dutch government to take him in, Veldkamp said.

The 75-year-old opposition leader was been accused of incitement and conspiracy to oust self-proclaimed winner of the elections Nicolas Maduro, whom he is believed to have defeated.

Some 27 people died in subsequent violent demonstrations and 2,400 people were arrested. Members of the opposition were in danger, Veldkamp said in the briefing. “Several of them were arrested and nothing has been heard from them since. Opposition candidate Gonzáles also faced this threat,” Veldkamp said.

The European Union as well as the United States and some Latin American countries have said they do not recognise Maduro’s win.