Madrid on Sunday said it would grant political asylum to Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who was heading into exile in Spain after a month in hiding in the crisis-hit South American country.

Gonzalez Urrutia -- who disputed President Nicolas Maduro's July 28 re-election -- left Venezuela after ignoring three successive summons to appear before prosecutors, arguing that attending the hearing could have cost him his freedom.

Madrid's Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said that Gonzalez Urrutia had requested political asylum in the European country, and that Spain would "obviously" grant it to him.

He earlier confirmed on X that the opposition leader had departed on a Spanish military aeroplane, adding that Spain was "committed to the political rights" of all Venezuelans.