[{"command":"settings","settings":{"pluralDelimiter":"\u0003","suppressDeprecationErrors":true,"ajaxPageState":{"libraries":"eJwry0wtL9YvA5F6iVmJFTplSAK5-SmlOakA-D8NyQ","theme":"hrw_design","theme_token":null},"ajaxTrustedUrl":[],"views":{"ajax_path":"\/views\/ajax","ajaxViews":{"views_dom_id:blog_live_feed__blog_body_block__303718__en":{"view_name":"blog_live_feed","view_display_id":"blog_body_block","view_args":"303718","view_path":"\/blog\/content\/303718","view_base_path":null,"view_dom_id":"blog_live_feed__blog_body_block__303718__en","pager_element":0}}},"csp":{"nonce":"2PG3bLTFWjJoOZ7MiFiirA"},"user":{"uid":0,"permissionsHash":"bc8921424f39d39c64af84232b603fadae46f840a8176c1b2436a5ee00791ac5"}},"merge":true},{"command":"add_css","data":[{"rel":"stylesheet","media":"all","href":"\/sites\/default\/files\/css\/css_1447Lh-a8xu4ucB5uW8di0slMymkwgiwmi6LAjlHUY8.css?delta=0\u0026language=en\u0026theme=hrw_design\u0026include=eJxLzi9K1U8pKi1IzNFLzEqs0CnLTC0v1geTern5KaU5qQDy8w2e"}]},{"command":"add_js","selector":"body","data":[{"src":"\/sites\/default\/files\/js\/js_7GbWztuBweZEbeVKvCVvKTpgTEEPI7Neswq3falsXOA.js?scope=footer\u0026delta=0\u0026language=en\u0026theme=hrw_design\u0026include=eJwry0wtL9YvA5F6iVmJFQA22wZe"}]},{"command":"insert","method":"replaceWith","selector":".js-view-dom-id-blog_live_feed__blog_body_block__303718__en","data":"\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-view-dom-id-blog_live_feed__blog_body_block__303718__en\u0022\u003E\n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n\n \u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n \u003Cdiv class=\u0022blog-block__content__description rich-text pt-6 mb:pt-10 mx-auto\u0022\u003E\n \u003Ch2\u003EJoint Statement by the Venezuelan Penal Forum and Human Rights Watch\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/h2\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EAs of May 15, the Venezuelan Penal Forum has obtained information regarding the prosecution of at least 275 civilians by military courts in Venezuela. In all these cases, the Venezuelan Penal Forum has directly assisted detainees or verified information regarding the prosecutions through direct contact with family members. Human Rights Watch interviewed several of the lawyers representing detainees. The cases include the prosecution of 192 civilians in Carabobo state, 19 in Falcon state, 20 in Zulia state, 18 in Caracas, 13 in Lara state, 10 in Sucre state, two in Barinas state, and one in T\u00e1chira state. 159 of these defendants were in pretrial detention as of May 12. Detainees are being held in military prisons, prisons for detainees subject to military prosecution, high-security prisons, or in headquarters of the intelligence services.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EWhile no public record of these proceedings is available\u2014a problem in its own right\u2014the accounts by lawyers and family members include many disturbing allegations of abuses and procedural defects in the conduct of these prosecutions, including the following:\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli\u003EDetainees being subjected to physical and other abuses that may in some cases amount to torture at the moment of their arrest or during detention.\u003C\/li\u003E\n\t\u003Cli\u003EHearings being held in military courts or other military installations, presided over by military judges who report to the Minister of Defense, and sometimes in the presence of armed guards.\u003C\/li\u003E\n\t\u003Cli\u003EJudges charging large groups of protesters with crimes \u003Cem\u003Een masse\u003C\/em\u003E, without any individualized consideration of the evidence against them.\u003C\/li\u003E\n\t\u003Cli\u003EHearing times not being specified in advance, leaving independent lawyers and families waiting at the entrance of military facilities or courts for hours. Lawyers say that when hearings are held, they are sometimes not able to enter the courtroom; when they are allowed to enter, they often are only able to speak to detainees a few minutes before the hearings, only have access to the criminal file when they are at the hearing, and cannot take pictures or copies of the files.\u003C\/li\u003E\n\t\u003Cli\u003EProtesters being charged with serious crimes under the military code, such as \u201crebellion\u201d and \u201ctreason,\u201d for alleged acts of violence at protests.\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cu\u003EAccounts of the proceedings provided by lawyers who attended the hearings\u003C\/u\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EOn May 5, 40 people who had been detained separately near a food company in Valencia, Carabobo state, which had been looted a day earlier, were brought before a military judge in an improvised courtroom inside military headquarters. The hearing started at 7 p.m. and lasted 12 hours. During the hearing, most detainees showed bruises that they said were caused by members of the National Guard who beat them, sometimes with an aluminum bar or a baseball bat. Some claimed the officers cut their hair during their detention. At least 15 said they were forced to eat raw pasta with human excrement\u2014the officers allegedly put teargas powder in their noses so they would be forced to open their mouths to eat. Without individualizing the criminal responsibility of each, all 40 were charged with rebellion. The military judge admitted the charges against all, but sent only 19 to the high-security prison \u201c26 of July\u201d in Gu\u00e1rico state, without providing any explanation, the lawyer said. The others were released on conditional liberty.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EOn May 6, Carlos Sardi, a man who collaborates with local groups working with cancer patients and on LGBT rights, was detained while he was protesting with his wife in Valencia, Carabobo state. Sardi said that he was brutally beaten and forced to wear a black hood, while authorities he could not see asked him about people who had allegedly been involved in the protests. Prosecutors argued he had been in phone contact with other protesters, and was carrying Molotov cocktails, nails, and gasoline\u2014evidence he claims was planted. Sardi was taken before a military court and charged with rebellion, treason, and contempt. A military judge ordered his pretrial detention in the \u201c26 of July\u201d security prison in Gu\u00e1rico state.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EOn May 9, 16 people who had been detained in different circumstances in La Villa de Rosario were brought together before a military court in Maracaibo, Zulia state. The detainees included a man who said he was walking home from work when he was picked up by the National Guard, and two brothers who said they were working on the roof of their home and were detained without a judicial order. Two others were reportedly taken from the hospital\u2014one said he was there after suffering a domestic accident and the other said that he was a government supporter who had been hit by a bottle in a protest\u2014to the offices of the investigative police to declare who had injured them, and were then detained. Eight of the 16 detainees claimed they were beaten by members of the National Guard when they were detained, and that the officers spread a white powder on their faces that caused a burning sensation and made them cry, which they described as being similar to the effect of teargas bombs. The lawyers who were able to enter the hearing\u2014which took place inside a military installation\u2014were searched by officers and were not allowed to take their cellphones or personal belongings into the hearing. There were no female officers, so female lawyers were physically searched by male military officers. On May 11, the prosecutor charged the 16 detainees with rebellion and insult to a sentinel, without specifying what each of them had done. The judge accepted the charges against all detainees, but ruled seven would be held in pretrial detention at the Santa Ana prison, an installation for people prosecuted in military courts, without providing any explanation for the distinction, the lawyer said. The rest were released on conditional liberty.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003ESergio Contreras, an activist with the Voluntad Popular (Popular Will) opposition party and a lawyer who taught at the Catholic University Andr\u00e9s Bello, said that on May 10, he was beaten and detained by members of the Bolivarian National Police while he was demonstrating in Caracas. Contreras said he was speaking to a group of students with a megaphone. Contreras was taken before a military court on May 12 and charged with rebellion, treason, and \u201cstealing military material\u201d (based on a firearm he said was planted). The judge accepted the charges, ordered his pretrial detention, and sent him to the Ramo Verde military prison.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EOn May 11, Lisbeth A\u00f1ez, an activist who has visited political prisoners detained in Venezuela, was arrested at the Caracas airport when she was boarding a flight to Miami. She was taken before a military court in Caracas a day later, and charged with rebellion and treason based on evidence that included alleged WhatsApp messages that lawyers say are not described in judicial documents, as well as books, letters, and recognitions of her social work. This evidence, according to the court, proved she was promoting violent acts, in light of the \u201cnotoriety\u201d of the fact that Venezuelan protests are violent, the lawyers said. She was ordered detained at the headquarters of the National Bolivarian Intelligence Services in Caracas.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cu\u003EInternational human rights standards\u003C\/u\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EBoth Venezuelan and international law provide that civilians should not be prosecuted before military courts. The Venezuelan Constitution, in \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.psuv.org.ve\/constitucion\/titulo5-capitulo3\/\u0022\u003Earticle 261\u003C\/a\u003E, limits military jurisdiction to crimes that are of a military nature. Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which Venezuela ratified in 1978, guarantees the right to a timely trial by a competent, independent, and impartial tribunal. In 2015, the Human Rights Committee, the expert body charged with interpreting the ICCPR, \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/tbinternet.ohchr.org\/_layouts\/TreatyBodyExternal\/Countries.aspx?CountryCode=VEN\u0026amp;Lang=EN\u0022\u003Eexpressed\u003C\/a\u003E concern that military courts in Venezuela are competent to try civilians under certain circumstances and called on the Venezuelan government to \u201cadopt the necessary measures to prohibit military courts from trying civilians.\u201d Similarly, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights has \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.corteidh.or.cr\/docs\/casos\/articulos\/Seriec_69_esp.pdf\u0022\u003Eruled\u003C\/a\u003E that military courts should not try civilians.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022twitter-tweet\u0022 data-cards=\u0022hidden\u0022 data-lang=\u0022en\u0022\u003E\n\t\u003Cp dir=\u0022ltr\u0022 lang=\u0022es\u0022 xml:lang=\u0022es\u0022\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/15Mayo?src=hash\u0022\u003E#15Mayo\u003C\/a\u003E 11:45am Desde Abril2017 275 civiles han sido sometidos a la justicia militar. 159 han quedado presos \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Venezuela?src=hash\u0022\u003E#Venezuela\u003C\/a\u003E \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/t.co\/dPrS3yNXDc\u0022\u003Epic.twitter.com\/dPrS3yNXDc\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\t\u2014 Alfredo Romero (@alfredoromero) \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/twitter.com\/alfredoromero\/status\/864145870819872768\u0022\u003EMay 15, 2017\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n \n\n \n \n\n \n \n\u003C\/div\u003E\n","settings":null},{"command":"insert","method":"prepend","selector":".js-view-dom-id-blog_live_feed__blog_body_block__303718__en","data":"","settings":null}]