 A month later in March 2006, López's bodyguard who was sitting in López's regular seat was shot several times and was killed.In June 2008, after López returned from a visit to Washington, D.C., he was allegedly detained and assaulted by the state intelligence service; the Venezuelan government disputed this account, stating that a member of the Venezuelan National Guard reported López as being responsible for the aggression and presented a video as evidence.In an April 2008 ruling announced by Venezuela's chief prosecutor and then upheld by court decision, López and several hundred other Venezuelans were barred from running in the November 2008 elections, for reasons of alleged corruption.