By EFE
Aug 31, 2024, 1:36 PM EDT
The Venezuelan NGO Foro Penal has denounced the transfer of detainees during post-election protests in the island state of Nueva Esparta, without their families knowing “where they are being taken,” which constitutes – the organization said – a “violation” of the Constitution.
“Relatives do not know where they are taking them (the detainees). They indicate that a plane is prepared for transfer out of Margarita Island. We remind that the authorities, by not informing the detainees and their relatives where they are going to be transferred, are violating (…) the Constitution,” warned the Penal Forum through X.
#30Ag Nueva Esparta. Transfer of detainees in the context of post-election protests in the state of Nueva Esparta, Venezuela, relatives do not know where they are being taken, they indicate that a plane is prepared for transfer out of Margarita Island.
We remind that the authorities… pic.twitter.com/z8fzgfUxf6
— Penal Forum (@ForoPenal) August 30, 2024
The NGO also said that detainees have been prevented from “naming lawyers they trust as their defense attorneys,” a practice they said has been occurring in “most cases of detentions in the post-election context.”
The organization has recorded 1,780 arrests – of which 1,550 are men and 230 are women – during protests against the results announced by the Chavista National Electoral Council (CNE) of the July 28 presidential elections, in which electoral authorities proclaimed the victory of Nicolás Maduro, something that the largest opposition coalition considers “fraud” and which is questioned by a large part of the international community.
The anti-Chavez bloc also claims that its standard-bearer, Edmundo González Urrutia, is the president-elect according to “83.5% of the electoral records” that they say they gathered from witnesses and polling station members on election night, to support their claim of fraud in the presidential elections, documents that the government calls “false.”
According to official figures from the Maduro regime, during the post-election protests there were more than 2,400 arrests and 25 deaths, for which the government blames the opposition, while international bodies such as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights have denounced the “arbitrary use of force” by the State.
Continue reading:
- Lula da Silva confronts his ally Maduro: he does not recognize his victory in the presidential elections
- US denounces “unacceptable violation” in Venezuelan elections
- Maduro regime arrests opposition leader, Machado’s command denounces