Following his visit to Venezuela on January 28, UN High Commissioner Volker Türk requested the release of all political prisoners, and stated that his office is closely monitoring the situation of various detainees, including Javier Tarazona. For Fundaredes, both the arrest of his director and the bill against NGOs promoted by the ruling party “are signs of the State’s intention to systematically reduce the civic and plural space”
This Wednesday, February 22, the lawyer and director of the NGO Fundaredes, Javier Tarazona, turned 600 imprisoned at the headquarters of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (Sebin). The organization asked the Venezuelan State for his full release, while asking the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to classify his detention as arbitrary.
In a series of messages on your Twitter accountthe NGO assured that the arrest and imprisonment of Tarazona dThey show “that the Venezuelan State has no intention of respecting those who carry out the work of documenting, denouncing and making visible human rights violations” in the country.
After his visit to Venezuela on January 28, High Commissioner Volker Türk requested the release of all political prisonersand asserted that his office is closely monitoring the situation of several detainees, including Tarazona.
For the NGO, both the arrest of its director and the bill against NGOs promoted by the ruling party “are signs of the State’s intention to systematically reduce the civic and plural space.”
From Fundaredes we advocate and request the High Commissioner for #HRD @volker_turk to classify the case of Javier Tarazona as an arbitrary detention, in addition to demanding that the State grant his full freedom #NiUnDiaMasTrasLasRejas
— FundaREDES (@FundaREDES_) February 22, 2023
Javier Tarazona was arrested on July 2, 2021, together with his brother José Rafael Tarazona and the activist Omar de Dios García, when he went to the headquarters of the Prosecutor’s Office in Coro, capital of the Falcón state, to report that he was being harassed. and persecution by Sebin officials. That same day he was transferred to Caracas and detained in El Helicoide, one of the headquarters of that security organization.
The director of Fundaredes is accused of the alleged crimes of incitement to hatred and terrorism, due to the NGO’s complaints about the presence of irregular groups in various states on the Venezuelan border, as well as the clashes between the National Armed Forces and alleged elements of the FARC and ELN dissidents in Apure state.
García and José Rafael Tarazona were later released and remain under the regime of appearance before the courts. The trial of the three activists has been paralyzed on several occasions due to the continuous deferral, failure to call the hearings, and the illness of the judge of the Third Court with Jurisdiction in Terrorism of Caracas.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) modified, in November last year, the protection measures in favor of Javier Tarazona and even showed their willingness to visit the country to review their prison conditions. This is due to the repeated complaints of torture and cruel treatment against him.
The delegation of the European Union in Venezuela has also ruled on the casedeclaring Tarazona’s innocence and the need for the Office of the UN High Commissioner to have access to the activist, taking into account his fragile state of health.
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