Venezuela Indicts Opposition Leader for Alleged Involvement in Plot to Kill President Maduro

Venezuela has indicted a female hardline opposition leader, Maria Corina Machado, and the country's Chief Prosecutor has launched a probe into the politician's alleged part in a plot to assassinate President Nicolas Maduro, the state prosecutor's office said on Wednesday.

Machado is a former Congresswoman who led major street protests against Maduro's socialist government in January, this year. She says that the accusations are a means to silence her efforts and distract the citizens of Venezuela from the growing economic crisis, Reuters reports.

The alleged plot was shown in a series of e-mails that Machado says are not genuine. Officials had presented the e-mails while the street protests were in full swing. According to BBC, the e-mails were conversations and exchange of information between Machado and U.S. State department officials. The two sides had allegedly discussed a plot to overthrow Maduro's government.

To clarify her position, she took to the social media. She wrote on her account on a social networking site that the conspiracy charges against her were government's way to take vengeance as she had demanded a new leadership at the state elections council.

If Machado is found guilty, the former legislator could be sentenced to between 8 and 16 years in jail.

"Our only option is to fight for democracy and freedom. We're at the doors of a transition period," Machado said after she was indicted at the state prosecutor's office in Caracas on Wednesday.

Dozens of supporters gathered to show support to Machado.

An advisor of Machado said that authorities had not ordered her immediate detention. It is unlikely that the case would spark similar street demonstrations that had plagued Venezuela for three months earlier this year.