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INDEX Executive Summary PATTERNS of PERSECUTION

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INDEX Executive Summary PATTERNS of PERSECUTION INDEX INDEX Executive Summary PATTERNS OF PERSECUTION FOR DISSENT USED BY THE VENEZUELAN STATE UPDATE OF CASES OF POLITICAL PERSECUTION IN VENEZUELA Richard Mardo, María Aranguren, Julio Borges, Juan Carlos Caldera, María Corina Machado, Henrique Capriles Radonski, Antonio Ledezma, David Smolansky, Gerardo Blyde, Gustavo Marcano, Ramón Muchacho, Darío Ramírez, GiuseppeDi Fabio, Carlos García, Leopoldo López, Carlos Vecchio, Pablo Pérez, Manuel Rosales, Daniel Ceballos, Antonio Rivero, Vincenzo (Enzo) Scarano, Óscar López, Hernando y Sandra Garzón, Rosmit Mantilla, Gaby Arellano, Raúl Emilio Baduel y Alexander Tirado, Renzo Prieto, Ricardo Hausmann, Gerardo Resplandor y Rodolfo González. PERSECUTIÓN TO NON GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS AND HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS Rocío San Miguel, Marco Antonio Ponce, Foro Penal Venezolano, Carlos Lusverti, Marino Alvarado y Feliciano Reyna. PERSECUTION TO JOURNALISTS Leocenis García, Génesis Arévalo (La Verdad), Noé Pernía, Gabriela Salcedo, Foreign Journalists. SPECIAL SITUATIONS INTOLERANCE TO INTERNATIONAL GUESTS Pastrana, Piñera, Calderón y Quiroga, Pablo Mieres, Parlamentarios Brasileños (Aecio Neves, Aloysio Nunes, Sergio Petecao, Ronaldo Caiado, Ricardo Ferraço y Agripino Maia). VIOLENCE AND INTOLERANCE WITHIN THE ELECTORAL CONTEXT FINAL REMARKS AND CONCLUSIONS approximation to the scheme/patterns of EXECUTIVE SUMMARY political persecution that had developed in recent years, which deepened in 2014, In December 2014, CEPAZ, in its a year characterized by large commitment to defend and promote demonstrations against the government of human rights in Venezuela, published the President Nicolás Maduro, as well as by report "Political Persecution in the birth of new dissident political leaders Venezuela, Systematization of Patterns of and the resurgence of others. Persecution of Venezuelan Political Dissidents", which revealed the existence The above-mentioned report of repeated and systematic persecution showed how a regime of political practices to political dissent by the suppression was born, through actions Venezuelan government, which violate that can be classified into eight specific the civil and political rights enshrined in patterns of persecution, namely: (i) the CRBV, the ICCPR, the ACHR and opening of judicial proceedings (now other legal instruments, as well as legal proceedings), (ii) persecution international principles and standards through the use of the media (iii) related to due process, fundamental dismissal of dissident politicians from freedoms of manifestation and opinion, public office (now dismissal from office), non-discrimination and the right to (iv) irregular raids on private property, (v) equality, political participation and stripping of parliamentary immunity (now respect for the individual's physical an attack on parliamentary immunity), vi) integrity, among others1. At that time we political disqualification, vii) identified that “political persecution is a misappropriation of public functions, and form of repression and attack against the viii) acquiescence of violent actions practice of an ideology that discerns of against political leaders (now those in power, it is necessary now to acquiescence of violent actions). make a statistical count by the political After a year, it is possible to party that has been more involved in the observe how the policies to eradicate cases of persecution according to the from the political scene any actor who leaders who have been affected” (Cepaz could hold a position in power or exercise Report, 2014). a discourse or critical work that The previous report, which undermines the ideals of the current reviews the year 2014, was a first government, continues and deepens. Media violence and government consent 1 CEPAZ Report, “Political Persecution in to violent actions against these critical Venezuela. Systematization of patterns of and dissident actors of government persecution to Venezuelan political dissidents”. Caracas, 2014, p. 8. Available at: policies has been maintained, as it will be www.cepaz.org.ve seen in the present report, the politicization the national government has presented in 2014, which shows the made of the activity of human rights continuity of the repression imposed by defenders and NGOs, as well as the the government. It will also include activity of journalists and international analysis of different groups of people observers. equally affected as actors critical to government policies such as journalists, human rights defenders and international In this sense, based on the eight delegations (see chart below); concluding patterns discussed above, this new report that the Venezuelan State has not ceased will present a monitoring and follow-up in the systematic execution of the above- of some cases studied in the report mentioned patterns of persecution. Patterns of persecution against dissidents by group Inhabilitación política Allanamientos irregulares a la propiedad privada Periodistas Ataque a la inmunidad parlamentaria Defensores u ong de DDHH Destitución de cargos Actores Politicos Aquiescencia de actos violentos Persecución a través de los medios de comunicación Procedimientos legales 0 10 20 30 It should be remembered that in this report, as in the previous report, the 48 cases mentioned serve as reference and study sample to all cases with similar characteristics, which are a much greater number than those mentioned in the reports. PATTERNS OF PERSECUTION FOR DISSENT USED BY THE VENEZUELAN STATE As a frame of reference for this report, we consider (in a summarized manner) the various patterns of political persecution presented in the first report. Thus, political persecution is the set of repressive action (s) addressed to an individual or a group of individuals because of their ideology or political action thus violating the human rights and fundamental freedoms of the individual. The mentioned patterns are: LEGAL PROCEEDINGS The opening of legal and especially existence of a cause that requires the judicial proceedings, as well as its person to be issued a custodial measure is development (this explains why the proven, for example in the crimes of change of pattern) have been flagrancy. Otherwise, when there is no characterized by the violation of the legal basis for the deprivation of liberty, right to due process and personal or when it is intended to deprive a person freedom, human rights enshrined in both whose guilt has not been proven, and article 49 and 44 of the CRBV 2 there are no reasons determined by law to respectively, as well as in several allow the prosecution of the person international treaties on the matter3. deprived of liberty, such deprivation of Due process fundamentally their liberty constitutes an arbitrary implies the following principles: Right to detention. defense and legal assistance in all stages of the process, principle of presumption PERSECUTION THROUGH of innocence, principle of procedural THE USE OF THE MEDIA celerity and compliance with procedural lapses, principle of the natural judge, The use of the various media principle of the thing judged. (including national radio and television networks) by the government in an Additionally, personal freedom is abusive and arbitrary manner has become inviolable, therefore, every person should a mechanism of political persecution and be tried in freedom, unless the intimidation for opponents of the political regime, within a policy of 2 Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of "Communicational Hegemony". Venezuela. Published in Extraordinary Official Gazette Number 5.453, on March 24, 2000. 3 For example, article 14 of ICPCR and article 8 ACHR. protects the right to private property in Article 47 and directly expresses that DISMISSAL FROM OFFICE property "(...) cannot be searched, but with a court order, to prevent the In the 2014 Report, "dismissal of perpetration of a crime or to comply with dissident politicians from public office" the law, the decisions that the courts was defined as the removal or dismissal, dictate, always respecting the dignity of as the case may be, from public office of the human being" 4. various persons who are part of the leadership of the Venezuelan opposition. STRIPPING OF This has been done with the support the PARLAMENTARY INMUNITY Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) has given the government by alleging that such persons have committed acts that violate According to the CRBV, the the legal system and therefore proceed to legislative function at national level is in the immediate dismissal of public office charge of the National Assembly (NA), they had assumed, including those who which is an independent Public Power, were elected. Currently, a more generic and separated from the other four. The term such as "dismissal from office" will deputies that make up the NA are elected be dealt with, since similar situations or by direct, secret and universal vote. similar consequences have been suffered According to Article 200 of the by persons who do not hold positions in Constitution and 25 of the Rules of the civil service but who have been Procedure and Debates of the National dismissed or have been forced to resign Assembly, the deputies who make up the from their jobs. NA enjoy immunity while being in the exercise of their functions as MP from the IRREGULAR RAIDS ON day of their inauguration until the end of PRIVATE PROPERTY their mandate or their resignation. This legal figure seeks to protect the physical The search of private property is a freedom of the deputies for reasons of measure
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