The lawyer Eduardo Torres has been incommunicado in the helicoid for four months; His preliminary hearing has been deferred twice and provides warns that his detention is part of a persecution pattern against human rights defenders. They claim that he is innocent of the cases that are accused
The lawyer of Prova and Human Rights Ombudsman Eduardo Torres celebrates this Tuesday, September 9, four months arrested. Since last May 9, when he was arrested around Central Park, in Caracas, after leaving a meeting, he remains incommunicado and without the preliminary hearing has been held, despite having been convened twice.
Torres is held in the dungeons of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (Sebin) of El Helicoid, but has no right to receive visits. Although a public defender was appointed, he is not allowed to appoint a trusted lawyer.
The coordinator of enforceability of SuppliesMarino Alvarado, explains that before the violations of the rights of Torres, the NGO introduced an amparo action, but the court declared it inadmissible. «We appeal and are in the Constitutional Chamber, but since May 12 there is also a Habeas corpus And there has been no action. They have not even complied with the mandatory by law, as notifying the Ombudsman’s Office, ”he denounces and adds that the only thing there is the designation of the magistrate.
The first audience of Eduardo Torres was suspended, without justification. The Court said it was not transferred by Sebin officials and did not have a telematic hearing. The second call that was planned for September 8 was not given either.
Prova could know unofficially “that the third judge against terrorism, called Ángel Betancourt Martínez (in charge of the case) was arrested by the Sebin.”
Alvarado denounces that the human rights defender has a status of “political prisoner subjected to prolonged isolation” and details that in international law that action qualifies as a “cruel form of treatment” and although the relatives have not been able to see it, they know that it is in the helicoid because there they receive the package (clothing, food and other inputs) on Fridays.
*Also read: relatives of Eduardo Torres warn risks that face health problems
Systematic pattern
For Marino Alvarado, the arrest of Eduardo Torres responds to a systematic pattern of persecution against dissent and against human rights defenders.
The Public Ministry indicated through an Instagram publication that Torres “through a structure called Citizen Training Nodes, financed by foreign agents, used training workshops as a facade to organize spotlights of violence by calling for the destruction of the electoral centers and spreading hate messages and annihilation towards the authorities of the State legitimately constituted.”
However, lawyer Alvarado asserts that «Eduardo was not in any activity that threatened the security of the State. He was a labor lawyer, defender of workers’ rights, trainer of more than 500 trade unionists in labor rights ». It also accompanied relatives of political prisoners. With their arrest, they tried to silence supplies, but they have not achieved it or they will achieve it. They will not silence us ».
At the time of his arrest, Torres had several cases of forced disappearance. «In May we had 19, then they extended to 23. Eduardo accompanied families directly. His arrest is a message of intimidation, but we continue to accompany the detainees and their relatives, ”said Alvarado.
The activist warns that in the country there is currently a systematic policy of forced disappearance and prolonged lack of communication: «There are more than 50 people in prolonged isolation, some for more than a year. All political detainees go through forced disappearance at the time of their capture. And that not only constitutes cruel treatment against the prisoner, but also against the family, as indicated by the Inter -American Commission on Human Rights and the United Nations Human Rights Committee ».
Remember that there are even temporary arrests, with threats and ruleteo, that they do not publicly denounce for fear of family members. «The cases are more than those known. No one is safe in the country, ”he concludes.
*Journalism in Venezuela is exercised in a hostile environment for the press with dozens of legal instruments arranged for the punishment of the word, especially the laws “against hatred”, “against fascism” and “against blockade.” This content was written taking into consideration the threats and limits that, consequently, have been imposed on the dissemination of information from within the country.
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