VENEZUELA: ILAAD BRINGS THE ARBITRARY DETENTION OF ARLEI DANILO ESPITIA LARA TO THE UNITED NATIONS

The International League Against Arbitrary Detention (ILAAD), alongside JusticiaXLibertad, has submitted a complaint to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) on behalf of Mr. Arlei Danilo Espitia Lara.

COLOMBIAN NATIONAL SUBJECTED TO INCOMMUNICADO ARBITRARY DETENTION

This action concerns the arbitrary detention of Mr. Arlei Danilo, a Colombian national, in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. He was arrested on 13 September 2024 at the Francisco de Paula Santander International Bridge while entering Venezuela to accompany a friend to renew her documents. He was later publicly and wrongly accused of being mercenary, plotting to assassinate President Nicolás Maduro.

Mr. Arlei Danilo's situation raises concerns, and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights granted the applicant precautionary measures, ordering the State to protect the beneficiary’s life and personal integrity.

Since his arrest, his whereabouts remain unknown.

Subjected to enforced disappearance and then continued incommunicado detention, Mr. Arlei Danilo was also denied fair trial rights such as the right to be promptly and effectively heard by a judicial authority, access to a lawyer and consular assistance, and the right to be presumed innocent. In addition, he was discriminated against on the basis of his nationality and in order to be used as a bargaining chip in relations between states.

ACTIONS REQUESTED TO THE UN WORKING GROUP AGAINST ARBITRARY DETENTION

In these circumstances, ILAAD respectfully requested that the Working Group render an opinion finding the deprivation of liberty against the victim to be arbitrary and falling within category I, III and V and:

• demand that the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela take the necessary measures to remedy the situation of the applicant without delay and bring it into line with the relevant international standards, including those set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Covenant;

• consider that, taking into account all the circumstances of the case, the appropriate remedy would be the immediate release of the applicant and the granting of the right to obtain redress, including compensation, in accordance with international law;

• urge the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to ensure that a thorough and independent investigation is carried out into the circumstances surrounding the arbitrary detention of the applicant and to take appropriate action against those responsible for the violation of his rights;

• urge the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to stop using foreigners as bargaining chips in diplomatic negotiations in plain disregard of the prohibition of State-to-State arbitrary detention;

• ask the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to use all means at its disposal to disseminate the opinion concerning the applicant as widely as possible.

ILAAD recalls that the WGAD adopted numerous opinions in recent years concerning arbitrary detention in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and recognized a recurrent pattern of arbitrary detention that might amount to a crime against humanity.