Venezuela has charged opposition leader Maria Corina Machado with plotting to kill President Maduro.<br /><br /> She and her supporters have denounced the accusations as politically motivated.<br /><br /> Machado was at the forefront of major street protests against Maduro’s socialist government earlier this year.<br /><br /> If found guilty, the former legislator could be sentenced to between 8 and 16 years in jail.<br /><br /> Prosecutors have claimed a series of emails revealed the alleged assassination plot by political opponents and US diplomats.<br /><br /> But at least one cyber expert is reported to have found they were faked.<br /><br /> The opposition’s radical wing praises Machado for standing up to what they consider a dictatorship.<br /><br /> But she is loathed by many government supporters, who see her as an out-of-touch aristocrat intent on toppling the government.<br /><br /> Earlier this year Leopoldo López, a fellow opposition leader who along with Machado was one of the protest movement’s main figureheads, was jailed and is currently on trial accused of inciting violence.<br /><br /> The demonstrations lasted three months and resulted in more than 40 deaths. <br /><br /> President Maduro who succeeded Hugo Chávez has seen his popularity slump amid shortages of goods and soaring inflation.<br /><br /> Critics claim he is trying to silence opponents and distract Venezuelans from the economic crisis.<br /><br /> Some US politicians have called for more sanctions against Caracas.
