Court in Venezuela Orders Release of a Judge Once Scorned and Jailed by Chávez During the three and a half years that she was held in prison or under house arrest, Judge Lourdes Afiuni became a symbol of political persecution for many in Venezuela under President Hugo Chávez. On Friday, a court in Caracas, acting at the government's request, ordered Ms. Afiuni to be set free in the latest sign of a shifting political landscape in post-Chávez Venezuela. Ms. Afiuni was jailed in December 2009 after issuing a court ruling that infuriated Mr. Chávez, who went on television and demanded that she be sentenced to 30 years in prison. For years Mr. Chávez ignored international appeals for her release, including from the American leftist intellectual Noam Chomsky. Mr. Chávez, a charismatic socialist, died in March, leaving a bitterly divided country. His handpicked successor, Nicolás Maduro, was elected by a slim margin in April and since then has confronted political turmoil and serious economic difficulties that have tested his nascent leadership skills. As Mr. Maduro lurches from one crisis to the next, the quality he seems to have honed most is delivering mixed messages at top volume. He branded President Obama "the big boss of the devils" and then sent his foreign minister to shake hands with Secretary of State John Kerry and call for warmer relations. He assailed capitalists for causing soaring inflation and rampant product shortages and then sat down with the head of the country's biggest private company to discuss the economy. And while he has relentlessly vilified the political opposition and the man he edged out in the election, Henrique Capriles Radonski, as traitors and coup plotters, his government has made some moves that could be seen as concessions to longstanding grievances of the opposition, which has been demanding Ms. Afiuni's release. "There are lots of mixed signals," said Elsa Cardozo, a professor of political science at the Central University of Venezuela. It is clear the government of President Maduro is in a situation that is forcing it to make some changes in direction. What we don't know is if they are permanent changes or tactical changes. But while government opponents have long called for Ms. Afiuni's release, the action may actually be intended to counter an opposition campaign to take its message abroad, with leaders visiting countries around the world to make the case that Mr. Maduro was unfairly declared the winner of a flawed election and that his government is repressive. The opposition routinely points to Ms. Afiuni as the most prominent among a group of what it calls political prisoners, who it says were jailed arbitrarily or were convicted in politically motivated trials. "I view it as a sign from the government to the outside world, the international community, that it is trying to show that it is respectful of human rights," José Vicente Haro, a constitutional law expert, said of Ms. Afiuni's release. Ms. Afiuni was arrested after she ordered a jailed businessman accused of evading currency controls freed while awaiting trial. She has said that the man had been held in custody for longer than Venezuelan law generally permitted under the circumstances and that her ruling complied with a recommendation by United Nations human rights monitors. Her lawyer, José Amalio Graterol, confirmed reports last year that she was raped while in prison, became pregnant and had an abortion, which led to other health problems. She was moved to house arrest in Caracas in 2011. Ms. Afiuni's trial began last November and is continuing, although she has refused to attend it. Last week the national prosecutor's office made a surprise announcement that it had asked a court to release Ms. Afiuni from house arrest, citing her need for medical treatment. The prosecutor asked the court to require her to report to the authorities every 15 days and to bar her from leaving the country and speaking to the news media. "A judge never should have been imprisoned for three years and six months for issuing a decision in accordance with the law," Ms. Afiuni's lawyer, Mr. Graterol, said Friday, adding that her case had intimidated other judges who feared defying the government. William Neuman reported from New York, and María Eugenia Díaz from Caracas, Venezuela.