The lawyer told La Conversa that unlike the repression of protests in previous years, the detainees are not allowed to appoint private counsel. He said that public attorneys are prevented from filing complaints under threat of losing their positions and even their freedom. He criticized the treatment given to the adolescents and criticized the passivity of the Ombudsman’s Office.
For Joel García, a lawyer defending political prisoners, the attack by Nicolás Maduro’s government against civil society in Venezuela following the presidential elections on July 28 has been the bloodiest in the last 25 years.
According to García, at this time “no one in Venezuela is safe, we are all on parole.”
The lawyer made the statement this Tuesday, September 17, during a new edition of La Conversa de la Rebel Alliance Investigates (ARI) made up of Runrun.es, El Pitazo and SuchWhich, which was titled The drama of political prisoners in Venezuela.
In the program, which was hosted by Victor Amaya, director of SuchWhich, and Luis Blanco, director of Runrun.es, García assured that in Venezuela You can go to jail for simply expressing an opinion in public or on social media, having been a witness or a member of a polling station on June 28, being a politician, activist, journalist or posting a WhatsApp status.
“We don’t know if this conversation we are having now can be considered an act of terrorism.”
According to García, this post-electoral onslaught by the Chavista regime has not ended and continues with the construction or remodeling of prisons, accusations of hate crimes and terrorism and an increase in the number of political prisoners.
For the lawyer, there is a marked difference between the repressions in the context of the anti-government protests of 2014, 2017 and 2019 and the recent ones after June 28.
“Beyond the quantitative, we are seeing that since January of this year, none of the detained people have been allowed to appoint trusted defenders and the most fervent example is the case of Rocío San Miguel, who has been imprisoned since February and still does not have the right to a private lawyer.”
García complained that lawyers like him are not even given access to the courts.
“The control judges are the first to violate rights, the hearings are massive, and conduct is not individualized. The prosecutor (Tarek William Saab) says that he has no complaint for human rights violations and that is because public defenders are prohibited from filing complaints.”
The lawyer ruled that any public official is obliged to report cruel and degrading treatment.
“This omission is considered a crime. The problem is that the defenders are prohibited from reporting any irregularities because the result is declaring no grounds and they run the risk of losing their positions and even their freedom,”
Garcia cited the case of Maglen Marin Rodriguezwho served as provisional prosecutor of the state of Anzoátegui and was dismissed and charged with allegedly committing the crime of “intentional omission” in a judicial process against four protesters.
Homeless teenagers
The lawyer said that the trials of adolescents have an educational character.
“In theory, representatives should be present, but none of them have been able to participate. The teenagers cannot serve more than 10 years and their sentence should be reduced if they admit their responsibility.”
He warned that teenagers are being subjected to mass audiences.
“Many have been there for more than 45 days and have not been charged. They are charged online without specifying individual conduct, as if it were a mass. Most have not received visits from their families, they cannot be fed, they are unaware of their health, the little they know is that they are fine.”
Garcia ruled that if the accused admits guilt, his sentence should be reduced by one third or half, but in crimes such as terrorism, one third is appropriate.
The lawyer pointed out that in the face of these irregularities, the Ombudsman’s Office is conspicuous by its absence.
“I know many relatives who have come to the office and have not received any response. The Ombudsman’s Office only exists in the Constitution, it is a headquarters, but we do not know anything else, it is completely grey.”
García indicated that the provisions of the new report of the UN Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela are sufficient for the Ombudsman’s Office to open an ex officio investigation.
“In Venezuela, more education is needed instead of building more prisons. Prisons are being built for a specific sector of the population, a sector that feels that its political rights through suffrage have been violated.”
The lawyer reported that since 2014, state security forces have made more than 17,000 arrests for political reasons, of which 9,000 people were given precautionary measures.
“The pattern has been the same: arbitrary arrests, forced disappearances, searches without warrants, torture, incommunicado detention and lack of defense.”
García denounced that “Operation Tun Tun” has been carried out for some time.
“Judicial autonomy does not exist, there is a chain of command and that is serious because all Venezuelans are defenseless.”
The lawyer said that although there is no suspension of guarantees, the rule of law does not exist in Venezuela.
“It is a barbaric society, no one is safe. Persecution for political reasons is established as a crime against humanity. Talking about justice in this country is forcing the concept, because we do not have it.”
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