The non-governmental organization (NGO) Justiça Venezuelana (JV) denounced this Wednesday that the procedural guarantees and human rights of the 26 women detained for political reasons in Venezuela are being violated.
“There are complaints of gender violence, sexual abuse and abortions as a result of beatings, as well as the denial of medical care in a timely manner and according to the medical needs of political prisoners,” explained the director of the NGO.
Lília Camejo Gutiérrez was speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the presentation of the “Final Report: Situation of political prisoners in Venezuela – April 2022”, including “arbitrary arrests, with special emphasis on women who make up the Bolivarian Armed Forces.”
“Political persecution in Venezuela does not stop or correct itself,” explained the director of the NGO. “The violation of their human rights and procedural guarantees is systematic and uncompromising,” he added.
According to Lília Camejo Gutiérrez, by thoroughly investigating cases involving both civilian and military women, the organization discovered that there are “Irregularities and illegalities committed against persecuted politicians in the country”.
Among the 26 women detained for political reasons, 18 are civilians and eight military. The majority, 20, are held in Venezuelan prisons, one is under house arrest, four have “precautionary measures, mainly due to health problems” and one has already served the sentence imposed.
The organization warned that they are all subject to irregular judicial processes, that in some of the judicial stages they were denied access to a lawyer, that they are in preventive detention without being tried for years, that they suffer years of procedural delays and that the accusations against him are unfounded and lack facts and evidence.
In the case of civilian women, Lília Camejo Gutiérrez explained that “there is the aggravating circumstance that many of them have become political targets for having affective and/or family ties with persecuted politicians,” while the military women “were detained after being summoned for an interview being held in prison for years without even starting his trial.”
“Given the serious situation faced by persecuted women and political prisoners in the country, the Venezuelan Justice, in addition to denouncing what they have suffered for years, we demand their immediate release and the restitution of their rights,” he concluded.
Meanwhile, another NGO, Foro Penal (FP), announced on Wednesday that it had registered, as of May 23, 237 people detained for political reasons in Venezuela.
The record compiled by the FP shows that 107 are civilians and 130 military, of whom 222 are men and 15 women, a figure lower than that provided by the JV, with 236 adults and one adolescent.
Source: Observadora
