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Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Resolution 24/2020

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Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Resolution 24/2020 INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS RESOLUTION 24/2020 Precautionary Measure No. 496-20 Leonardo David Chirinos regarding the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela June 9, 2020 Original: Spanish I. INTRODUCTION 1. On May 28, 2020, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (“the Inter-American Commission,” “the Commission,” or “the IACHR”) received a request for precautionary measures filed by Alfredo Romero, Gonzalo Himiob and Julio Henríquez from the organization “Foro Penal” (“the applicants”), urging the Commission to request that the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (“the State” or “Venezuela”) protect the rights of Leonardo David Chirinos Parra (“the proposed beneficiary”), who was reportedly deprived of his liberty in April 2020 by state actors, and who was allegedly subject to torture. According to the request, his whereabouts or location to date are unknown. 2. The IACHR requested information on May 29, 2020, in accordance with Articles 25.5 of its Rules of Procedure and XIII of the Inter-American Convention on Forced Disappearance of Persons. To date, no response has been received from the State. 3. Upon analyzing the submissions of fact and law provided by the applicants, the Commission considers, from the applicable prima facie standard, that Mr. Leonardo David Chirinos Parra is in a serious and urgent situation, given that his rights to life and personal integrity are at risk of irreparable harm. Consequently, the Commission requests that the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela: a) adopt the necessary measures to protect the rights to life and personal integrity of Leonardo David Chirinos Parra. In particular, report whether the beneficiary is in the custody of the State, as well as his current circumstances or the measures aimed at determining his whereabouts or fate; b) ensure that the rights of the beneficiary are respected in accordance with the standards established by international human rights law, both by state actors and in relation to acts attributable to third parties that may place the beneficiary at risk; c) consult and agree upon the measures to be adopted with the beneficiary and his representatives; and d) implement the actions aimed at investigating the facts that motivated the granting of this precautionary measure, so as to prevent such incidents from reoccurring. II. SUMMARY OF FACTS AND ARGUMENTS 1. Information provided by the applicants 4. Mr. Leonardo David Chirinos Parra is an officer of the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence (DGCIM). On April 20, 2020, he was assigned to the DGCIM headquarters in the city of Maracaibo, Zulia state. Ms. Parra, mother of the beneficiary, lost contact with him from that day on, and she was informed that other DGCIM officers assigned to the Boleíta headquarters in Caracas came for him and took him into custody. - 1 - 5. The applicants indicated that on April 29, around 11 a.m., Ms. Parra received a video call from the beneficiary’s phone, and she observed that someone was holding the phone so that she could see his face. According to the request, Mr. Chirinos’s voice and expression showed despair and anguish and a cardboard with abundant adhesive tape was placed on his neck. Mr. Chirinos reportedly informed his mother that he was at the DGCIM headquarters in Boleíta, Caracas, and that he needed her to give him the phone number of his brother, Leandro Leomar Chirinos Parra, or else they would kill him, and go looking for other relatives who live in Caracas. He further added that he was being tortured. The mother told him she did not have the phone number and, at her son’s insistence, gave him a number which she was not sure was correct, after which they hung up. 6. A few minutes later, Ms. Parra received another call from the beneficiary, who told her that the number was incorrect, and urged her to give them the correct one or they were going to kill him. Mr. Chirinos reportedly stated that “he could not take it any longer,” that “they would kill him if they continued.” The call dropped and, after a few minutes, Ms. Parra received a message from the same number that said “Mama, I need to talk to Leandro, the number you sent me is wrong” (sic). 7. The applicants reported that the beneficiary’s brother, Leandro Leomar Chirinos Parra, is a sergeant of the Bolivarian National Guard who, on April 30, 2019, rebelled against the government of Nicolás Maduro along with other security agents. On May 12, 2020, the arrest of two individuals was made public on a Twitter account, one of whom was identified by Ms. Parra as her son Leandro, who appeared in a photo in handcuffs and on his knees. 8. According to the request, on May 3, 2020, when the Nicolás Maduro government announced the arrest of armed individuals who arrived on the Venezuelan coast in the so-called “Operation Gideon,” the news that one of the detainees was Mr. Leonardo Chirinos spread through social media. The applicants indicated that this was impossible, given that the beneficiary has reportedly been detained since April 21, 2020, with the alleged purpose of extracting information about his brother. 9. The applicants further indicated that on May 15, 2020, the twitter account @centrocrovato posted that, “according to inside sources, on May 14, at 03:25, the Officer Leonardo Chirinos died at the DGCIM headquarters, when he was tortured so that he would confess what he knew about the activities of his brother, Sgt. Leandro Chirinos, captured in Operation Gideon”1 (sic). On another note, they indicated that, according to a press release posted on the Facebook page of the Superior Court of Justice on May 16, 2020 the beneficiary was brought before judicial authorities, where a Special Court ordered his deprivation of liberty for the crimes of “treason, rebellion and conspiracy with a foreign government.”2 10. The applicants reported that they have gone to police agencies, hospitals, clinics, the National Service for Medicine and Forensic Science in Caracas and the headquarters of the Boleita DGCIM, in Caracas, but have not been able to obtain information on the whereabouts of the beneficiary. They indicated that on May 15 they presented a request to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances, where information was requested on the 1 Abg Center. Marcelo Crovato for Justice [@centrocrovato]. (May 15, 2020). According to inside sources, on May 14, at 03:25, the official Leonardo Chirinos had died at DGCIM headquarters. Twitter https://twitter.com/centrocrovato/status/1261370805876854785/photo/1 2 Superior Court of Justice [https://www.facebook.com/TSJVenezuela/]. (May 16, 2020). Courts deprive a group of men and women of liberty by Operation Gideon. Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/notes/tribunal-supremo-de-justicia/tribunales-privan-de-libertad-a-grupo-de-hombres- y-mujeres-por-la-operaci%C3%B3n-gede/2980401055401012 - 2 - whereabouts of the proposed beneficiary. No information was provided. On May 18, a habeas corpus was filed with the competent judicial body to report the disappearance, without success. Finally, on May 19, a complaint was filed with the Prosecutor's Office (Fiscalía) for enforced disappearance, but no response was given. 11. Screenshots of the video call that Ms. Parra had with her son were attached to the request, as well as text messages. The applicants presume that the cardboard with adhesive tape around the beneficiary’s neck is part of a torture instrument. Lastly, the applicants indicated that the lawyers of Foro Penal have not been allowed to access his file nor have they received information on the location of the detention center where the proposed beneficiary is allegedly being held. In addition, no proof of life has been provided, thus he remains disappeared. 2. Response from the State 12. The IACHR requested information from the State on May 29, 2020. To date, no response has been received from the State. III. ANALYSIS OF THE ELEMENTS OF SERIOUSNESS, URGENCY AND IRREPARABLE HARM 13. The precautionary measures mechanism is part of the Commission’s function of overseeing Member State compliance with human rights obligations established in Article 106 of the Charter of the Organization of the American States. These general oversight functions are set forth in Article 18 (b) of the Statute of the IACHR. The precautionary measures mechanism is described in Article 25 of the Commission’s Rules of Procedure. Pursuant to this article, the Commission grants precautionary measures in serious and urgent situations, and when these measures are necessary to prevent an irreparable harm. 14. The Inter-American Commission and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (the Inter- American Court” or “I/A Court H.R.”) have established repeatedly that precautionary and provisional measures have a dual nature, both precautionary and protective. As regards the protective nature, these measures seek to avoid irreparable harm and protect the exercise of human rights. Regarding their precautionary nature, these measures have the purpose of preserving legal situations while they are being considered by the IACHR. The protective nature aims to preserve the rights that may be at risk until the petition that is under consideration in the Inter-American System is resolved. Its object and purpose are to ensure the integrity and effectiveness of the decision on the merits of the case and, in this way, prevent the infringement of the rights at issue, a situation that could render moot or disprove the effet utile of the final decision. In this sense, precautionary or provisional measures allow the State concerned to comply with the final decision and, if necessary, to fulfill the ordered reparations. For such purposes, according to Article 25(2) of the Rules of Procedure, the Commission considers that: a.
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