The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint program of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and FIDH, requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Venezuela.
Description of the situation:
The Observatory has received with deep concern information from reliable sources on the arbitrary detention and judicial harassment of Mr. Franklin Gascón, a trade union activist and labor rights defender in Bolívar state.
According to the information received, on October 5, 2020, the Fourth Control Court of Puerto Ordaz, Bolívar state, ordered the preventive detention of Mr. Gascón for the crimes of “suppression and interruption of the operations of a state-owned enterprise”, “interruption of working hours”, “conspiracy”,“ damage to property ”and “disobedience to authority” (articles 191, 192, 286, 473, and 485 of the Venezuelan Criminal Code). Mr. Gascón is being held at Command No. 625 of the Bolivarian National Guard (GNB), in the city of Puerto Ordaz, Bolívar.
On September 17, 2020, Mr. Gascón was stopped by GNB officials at a tollbooth between the city of San Félix and Upata, in Bolívar state. After verifying Mr. Gascón’s documentation, the GNB officials informed him of an arrest warrant that had been issued against him in 2018 and proceeded to arrest him.
Mr. Gascón was transferred to Command No. 625 of the GNB where he was arbitrarily detained without being informed of the reason for his arrest or the content of the arrest warrant against him until October 5, when the presentation hearing before the Fourth Control Court was held in Puerto Ordáz. Likewise, in contravention of the provisions of the Venezuelan Organic Code of Criminal Procedure, Mr. Gascón was not presented before the courts within the first 48 hours of his arrest because the GNB claimed that an alleged lack of fuel and the absence of personnel in the court prevented the transfer of the detainee.
On September 25, 2020, the legal defense of Mr. Gascón requested a writ of habeas corpus before the Second Control Court of the Criminal Judicial District of Bolívar State, Puerto Ordaz extension, to demand his immediate release, arguing the illegality of the detention. On September 27, in the absence of a response from the court, the habeas corpus action was ratified by Mr. Gascón’s defense attorney. However, there was no response from the judiciary in either of the two cases.
The arbitrary detention and judicial harassment of Mr. Gascón would be related to an arrest warrant issued against him in 2018 by the Fourth Control Court of Puerto Ordaz for his participation in the peaceful protests of the workers of the public aluminum company Venalum that took place in December of that year, in a context of strikes in the state-run companies of Ciudad Guayana, Bolívar, due to the elimination of salary tables and the breach of collective contracts.
The Observatory highlights that the arbitrary detention and judicial harassment of Mr. Gascón is part of a generalized context of harassment, intimidation, reprisals, and judicial persecution against union leaders and labor rights defenders, and especially against those in the government sector and the state-run companies who, as the Observatory denounced in a March 2020 report [1], are conceptualized by the authorities under the logic of the internal enemy that seeks to destabilize the nation.
The Observatory denounces the arbitrary detention and judicial harassment of Mr. Gascón and demands the authorities his immediate and unconditional release, as well as an end to all kinds of harassment, including at the judicial level, against him and all human rights defenders in Venezuela.
Requested action:
Please write to the Venezuelan authorities urging them to:
i. Immediately and unconditionally release Mr. Franklin Gascón, as well as all human rights defenders arbitrarily detained in Venezuela;
ii. Ensure that due process guarantees are respected and that all types of harassment, including at the judicial level, against Mr. Franklin Gascón and, in general, against all human rights defenders in Venezuela are brought to an end;
iii. Immediately take the most appropriate measures to guarantee the safety and physical and psychological integrity of Mr. Franklin Gascón and, in general, that of all human rights defenders in Venezuela;
iv. Ensure the application of the provisions of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 9, 1998;
v. In general, guarantee respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms throughout the country under the international human rights standards ratified by Venezuela.
Contact information:
Mr. Nicolás Maduro Moros, President of Venezuela. Twitter: @NicolasMaduro
Mr. Tarek William Saab, Attorney General of the Republic. E-mail: ministeriopublico@mp.gob.ve; Twitter: @tarekwilliamsaab
Mr. Néstor Luis Reverol, Minister of the Interior, Justice and Peace. E-mail: mijcudecon@gmail.com
Dr. Alfredo Ruiz, Ombudsman. E-mail: contacto@defensoria.gob.ve
Mr. Jorge Valero, Ambassador of the Permanent Mission of Venezuela to the UN in Geneva. E-mail: mission.venezuela@ties.itu.int
Mrs. Claudia Salerno Caldera, Embassy of Venezuela in Brussels. E-mail: embve.bebrs@mppre.gob.ve
Please also write to the Diplomatic Representations of Venezuela in your respective countries.
Translated by José Rafael Medina
