VENEZUELA: ILAAD SUBMITS A COMPLAINT TO THE UNITED NATIONS ON BEHALF OF 5 INDIVIDUALS FALSELY ACCUSED OF PLOTTING TO ASSASSINATE THE VENEZUELAN PRESIDENT

The International League Against Arbitrary Detention (ILAAD), alongside JusticiaXLibertad and Venezuelan human rights lawyer Eduardo Torres, have submitted a complaint to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on behalf of Renzo Yasir HUAMANCHUMO CASTILLO, David Josué MISSE DURAN, Alejandro Jose BETANCOURT GUAICAIA, Raymar Nohely PÉREZ ALVARADO and Rosa Carolina CHIRINOS ZAMBRANO.

5 INDIVIDUALS FALSELY ACCUSED OF PLOTTING TO ASSASSINATE THE PRESIDENT ARRESTED AND DETAINED

On October 17, the Venezuela’s Minister of Interior, Justice and Peace, Mr. Diosdado Cabello, held a press conference on national television during which he publicly accused them, among 19 foreign nationals and 15 Venezuelan citizens of being mercenaries plotting to assassinate President Nicolás Maduro.

The complaint presents the situation of five applicants, who were arrested on 22 September 2024, at a checkpoint by the Bolivarian National Guard, together with DGCIM and CICPC, which are the forces that operate this checkpoint, while Mr. HUAMANCHUMO was entering Venezuela after spending a few days in Colombia in the company of Ms. CHIRINOS (his partner) and Ms. PÉREZ (his partner’s friend). Mr. MISSE and Mr. BETANCOURT, their two taxi drivers transporting them from the Villa del Rosario stop in Colombia to San Antonio del Táchira, were also arrested with them.

SUBJECTED TO ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCE AND INCOMMUNICADO DETENTION 

Subjected to enforced disappearance and then continued incommunicado detention, the five individuals were not brought promptly and effectively heard by a judicial authority, violating their rights protected under Article 9(3) ICCPR and Article 10(1) UDHR, as well as their right effectively challenge the legality of detention. Not only were they unable to challenge the lawfulness of their detention before a court, but their families and legal counsel faced numerous obstructions in their process to challenge the legality of the detentions through habeas corpus requests, which were either ignored or refused.

In addition, as a result of their continued incommunicado detention, their family and lawyers have been unable to communicate with them, thus depriving them of their right to legal representation, as well as their right to have adequate time and facilities to prepare their defense, to communicate confidentially with any lawyer, or to have access to materials related to their detention and to the charges and evidence gathered by the prosecution, guaranteed by Article 14 ICCPR. 

These violations are all the more worrying as President Maduro himself, in a press conference on 23 October, depicted the alleged mercenaries as "convicted" based on their own "confessions", in violation of their right to be presumed innocent. The Working Group was therefore requested to find the total non-observance of the norms relating to the right to a fair trial, are of such gravity as to give the deprivation of liberty an arbitrary character.

USED AS BARGAINGING CHIPS IN STATE-TO-STATE RELATIONS 

Regarding specifically the cases of Mr. Renzo Yasir HUAMANCHUMO CASTILLO and Mr. David Josué MISSE DURAN who are foreign nationals, they have not been able to communicate with the consular administration of their nationality in accordance with their right to consular and diplomatic protection, under Article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. This constitutes a further violation of their right to a fair trial. Moreover, the Working Group was requested to find that they both have been deprived of their liberty on discriminatory grounds because of their status as foreign nationals to use them as bargaining chips in State-to-State relations, in violation of articles 2 and 7 UDHR articles 2 and 26 ICCPR.

In light of the foregoing, ILAAD, JusticiaXLibertad and Eduardo Torres respectfully requested the Working Group to find that the deprivations of liberty of the five applicants are arbitrary because of their lack of a legal basis in complete disregard of the prohibition of enforced disappearance and prolonged incommunicado  (Category I) and the total non-observance of numerous violations of their fair trial rights (Category III). Additionally, as per the specific situation of Mr. HUAMANCHUMO and Mr. MISSE the Working Group is requested to find that their deprivations of liberty in Venezuela are also arbitrary because of the blatant discriminatory detention based on their foreign nationality (Category V).

ILAAD CALLS FOR THE 5 INDIVIDUALS TO BE RELEASED IMMEDIATELY

For all of the above reasons, on behalf of Renzo Yasir Huamanchumo Castillo, David Josué Misse Duran, Alejandro Jose Betancourt Guaicaia, Raymar Nohely Pérez Alvarado and Rosa Carolina Chirinos Zambrano, the International League Against Arbitrary Detention, alongside JusticiaXLibertad and Venezuelan human rights lawyer Eduardo Torres, respectfully asked the Working Group to: 

• demand that the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela takes the necessary measures to remedy the situation of the applicants without delay and bring it into line with the relevant international standards, including those set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Covenant;

  
  

• consider that, taking into account all the circumstances of the case, the appropriate remedy would be the immediate release of the applicants and the granting of the right to obtain redress, including compensation, in accordance with international law;

  
  

• urge the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to ensure that a thorough and independent investigation is carried out into the circumstances surrounding the arbitrary detention of the applicants and to take appropriate action against those responsible for the violation of their rights;

  
  

• urge the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to stop using foreigners as bargaining ships in diplomatic negotiations in plain disregard of the prohibition of State-to-State arbitrary detention;

  
  

• ask the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to use all means at its disposal to disseminate the opinion concerning the applicants as widely as possible.