Leopoldo López's supporters, members of Venezuela's opposition party, marched throughout major cities in the country on Saturday, staging demonstrations to voice their anger over the nearly 14-year sentence their leader received for inciting violence at anti-government protests last year.

López, who ended a month-long hunger strike back in June, was convicted on Sept. 10 of inciting demonstrations that resulted in the deaths of 43 people.

Hundreds of López supporters gathered in Chacao, a prosperous district where the 44-year-old opposition party leader was once mayor, to rally against what they consider to be a sham trial and an unnecessarily cruel sentence. According to Reuters, Nancy Suarez, an English teacher who claims to have suffered cuts and bruises from pro-government activists, said, "This sentence is the most unjust thing that has happened in the country."

President Nicolás Maduro, who recently closed off certain border crossing areas to Colombia as a way to crack down on rampant smuggling, maintains that López is an agitator backed by the U.S. government in order to weaken Venezuela's socialist state.

López, who earned a master's degree at Harvard University, was mayor of the Chacao district from 2000 to 2008, but was barred from running for re-election for allegedly misusing public funds.

His supporters have said that the charges against him, for which he never stood trial, were politically motivated.

During the 2014 protests, López made heavy use of social media to foment anti-government sentiment and gather support for his cause.

According to the BBC, Robin D. Meyer, the political counselor at the U.S. embassy in Caracas, has described López as a “divisive figure” within the conservative opposition party. "He is often described as arrogant, vindictive, and power-hungry," wrote Meyer, who went on to say, "Party officials also concede his enduring popularity, charisma, and talent as an organizer."