The situation of lawyer Perkins Rocha, legal advisor of the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD)continues to be marked by confinement, despite his transfer to the family home under a house-in-prison regime. His wife, María Costanza Cipriani, stated that the leader remains under police surveillance inside and outside the building.
The measure imposed – he explained to The National- forbids him to leave the apartment. “He cannot leave the apartment, he cannot cross the threshold of the apartment door, we also have a police officer at the door. He is not even released from prison, he is at home, but imprisoned.”
Cipriani He detailed that the security presence is also maintained in the surroundings of the building, stating that since Sunday, February 8, a patrol of the Bolivarian National Police (PNB) has been observed in the vicinity of the building.
He reported that the transfer was carried out without notification from the authorities. He said that he learned from third parties that Rocha had been taken from the detention center, and when he arrived at the apartment he found him in custody.
“I found out that Perkins was supposedly being taken out, and when I entered my apartment he was there. But no one called me to tell me,” he said.
And he added: “When I came in, he was sitting in my living room with two police officers.”
He indicated that after half an hour someone arrived who put the electronic device on his ankle.
Cipriani stressed that the change does not imply freedom, but rather a modification of the place of confinement. “He has a house as a prison, which is different, he is neither free nor released.”
Uncertainty about the amnesty law
About the possibility that an amnesty law could benefit him, he pointed out that there is still no legal clarity and asked for caution.
“The law is not even sanctioned yet. We ultimately have to wait for the final version,” he said.
He warned that if approved, the procedure would require the detainee himself to appear in court, which he considers complex due to its current restrictions.
The leader’s wife also drew attention to the situation of other detainees for political reasons. “There is an important record of people who are unjustly imprisoned and who are invisible, they should also be protected by an amnesty law,” he said.
He assured that Rocha remains firm. “He is strong, serene, convinced that we are doing the right thing.” Despite the limitations, he said the family considers the moment as part of the process. “We have assumed that shackle as another step in our path to freedomeven if it was simply a change of place of confinement.”
Cipriani thanked the support of organizations, media and citizens who showed solidarity with his situation.
“I thank the public pressure, the social media and the people who bravely made it a requirement for the transition to be successful that the freedom of political prisoners, of all, was a moral obligation. Thanks to them, Perkins is here today in my house with a shackle that does not prevent him from dreaming of the Venezuela we want,” he highlighted.
The arrest of Perkins Rocha
The lawyer was detained for 17 months and 20 days at the headquarters of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (Sebin) in El Helicoide, in Caracas, and since his arrest he was denied the right to private defense.
Rocha was arrested on August 27, 2024, almost a month after the presidential elections in Venezuela, in which the PUD denounced fraud considering that its candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia, was the winner and not Nicolás Maduro, as the National Electoral Council (CNE) proclaimed.
In September 2024, the attorney general, Tarek William Saab, linked Rocha, along with former deputies Freddy Superlano and Biagio Pilieri, also released, with the PUD’s disclosure of 85.18% of the electoral records, documents that the ruling party calls false.
Saab then said that these opponents were being investigated because they “endorsed”, “verified”, “disseminated” and “disclosed as real” the website where the minutes are that the PUD claims it collected through witnesses and polling station members in the elections, and that the bloc points out as proof of González Urrutia’s claimed victory.
