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Venezuela's Attorney General's Office announced on Monday that a court had issued an arrest warrant for opposition leader Edmundo González, accusing him of incitement and other crimes in a dispute over whether he or President Nicolás Maduro won the July elections.

Attorney General Tarek Saab shared a photo of the arrest warrant with Reuters via the Telegram application.

Issuing an arrest warrant against Gonzalez would represent a significant escalation of the Maduro government's crackdown on the opposition following the disputed election.

Venezuela's national electoral authority and the Supreme Court declared Maduro the winner of the July 28 election with just over half of the votes cast, but the results shared by the opposition point to an overwhelming victory for González.

The opposition, some Western countries and international bodies such as a United Nations panel of experts said the election was not transparent and called for all results to be published. Some even denounced electoral fraud.

The opposition has reportedly published copies of over 80 percent of the votes counted at the ballot boxes on a public website. The electoral council, in turn, says that a cyberattack on election night prevented the publication of the full results.

The arrest warrant request appears to be the government's latest salvo in what the opposition claims is its campaign against dissidents.

Attorney General Saab has also opened criminal investigations into opposition leader Maria Corina Machado and the opposition's vote-counting website. In the weeks since the election, opposition leaders and protesters have continued to be arrested.

At least 27 people were killed in the protests and around 2,400 were arrested.

In a letter published by the public prosecutor's office on Instagram to a court specializing in terrorism, prosecutor Luis Ernesto Duenez requested the issuance of an arrest warrant against Gonzalez for abuse of office, forgery, incitement to violate the law, conspiracy and association, all of which are said to have been directed against the Venezuelan state.

A spokesman for Gonzalez said they were awaiting notification of an arrest warrant but had no further comment. The opposition has consistently denied any wrongdoing.

“They have lost all touch with reality,” Machado said on X. “Threatening the elected president will only lead to greater cohesion and increase the support of Venezuelans and the world for Edmundo González.”

Gonzalez ignored three subpoenas to testify about the website, which could potentially result in a warrant being issued for his arrest in the case.

Lawyers interviewed by Reuters said Venezuelan law does not allow people over 70 to serve their sentences in prison, but instead requires house arrest. Gonzalez turned 75 last week.

The United States has drawn up a list of about 60 Venezuelan government officials and their family members who could be subject to sanctions in the first post-election punitive measures, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Since the vote, the ruling party-controlled National Assembly has passed a law tightening regulations on nongovernmental organizations and trade unions and denounced alleged forced resignations of civil servants who hold pro-opposition views.

The arrest warrant request came hours after the Biden administration said a plane used by Maduro had been seized in the Dominican Republic, a move the Venezuelan government condemned as an act of “piracy.”