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In Venezuela, there are 501 political prisoners and 12 of them have release documents signed by judges without the feared intelligence service (Sebin) abiding by the order and releasing them, said the human rights NGO Criminal Forum.

One of those people is Antonia Turbay, a lawyer detained since June 26 for allegedly contributing to the escape of former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Iván Simonovis, one of the historical political prisoners of Chavismo who escaped to the United States in May.

Another figure draws attention, as evidenced by the political persecution of Chavism against dissent: 8,904 people "are subject to unfair criminal proceedings for political reasons, and all have precautionary measures"; that is, even if they are not behind bars, they only enjoy probation, many with a ban on leaving the country, declaring the media or filing before courts, among other measures. They are imprisoned in their country.

Arrests for political reasons worsened with the regime of Nicolás Maduro, lawyer Gonzalo Himiob, director of the Criminal Forum explained in a press conference.

"Since January 1, 2014 (when Maduro was barely in his first year in office) there have been 15,160 political arrests. In addition, there are 495 cases of trials that do not advance and since 2014 there are 848 civilians who are being prosecuted in court military, "said Himiob.

The Criminal Forum also denounced that among the political prisoners there are 53 people who have been in preventive detention for more than two years , with their stagnant trials, which violates Venezuelan laws. "A person cannot spend more than two years in pretrial detention, pretrial detention is being used as another form of punishment. They are victims of arbitrary detentions," the lawyer added.

The Criminal Forum also denounced that military intelligence officials beat and robbed prisoners at the Ramo Verde military prison on the weekend outside Caracas, where I was imprisoned by opposition leader Leopoldo López.

Early penalty

Among the political prisoners whose cases are paralyzed is that of Deputies Edgar Zambrano, Vice President of the Parliament of Opposing Majority, and Juan Requesens, who on August 7 celebrated a year behind bars. The first is accused of having participated in the uprising against Maduro on April 30 and the second of being involved in the explosion of two drones near a military act in which Maduro gave a speech a year ago.

Henry Ramos Allup, secretary general of Democratic Action (Zambrano party), denounced that the legislator has not even been allowed to talk with his lawyers. The deputy is being held in the dungeons of Fuerte Tiuna, the country's main military base in Caracas, and his case is frozen.

The process against Requesens, on the other hand, has also not gone to trial, according to EL MUNDO his lawyer, Joel García.

"We are waiting for the file to be sent to the trial court to set the date on which the process will begin. The procedural delay is precisely to impose an early penalty, without trial," Garcia said.

Requesens' father, Juan Guillermo Requesens, assured EL MUNDO that they have at least allowed them to visit his son - last time last Sunday - and that he is well.

"Juan is physically well, we visited him on Sunday. He asks to move forward in support of Juan Guaidó (parliamentary chief recognized as president in charge of more than 50 countries) and the National Assembly. He is doing a lot of exercise and reading and writing a lot," he added. Father Requesens.

For lawyer Himiob, the cases of both deputies show that criminal proceedings are misrepresented in Venezuela, as their objective is not to solve a case, but to punish political dissent.

"The government is using the criminal process against them as punishment, there is no intention to resolve the cases, you just want to send a message of intimidation to the other deputies of Parliament: 'Look what can happen to them.' Those cases have not advanced and we have little hope that they will move forward, "added the lawyer.

Border tension

The border crossings between Colombia and Ecuador were crowded this weekend with Venezuelans struggling to enter the second country before Monday, when Executive Decree 826 entered into force, according to which a humanitarian visa is required to enter Ecuador as well. that a process of amnesty and regularization for Venezuelans.

In total, Migración Colombia reported that more than 11,000 Venezuelans left the country this weekend through the International Rumichaca Bridge to Ecuador, the main step. Another 1,400 Venezuelans crossed this weekend from Colombia to Ecuador over the San Miguel Bridge, a secondary step between the two countries.

The newspaper El Comercio de Ecuador reported that during the early hours of this Monday, the Ecuadorian authorities will allow the passage of only foreigners who sealed their departure from Colombia until midnight on Sunday, August 25. And it plans to attend the lagging procedures, due to the agglomeration in the Rumichaca Bridge. Those who have exit documents dated August 26, can no longer pass.

Death and suicide

233 Venezuelans died violently in the first seven months of the year in Colombia, the Colombian Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences revealed.

The study released last Sunday determined as causes of death attacks with firearms or sharps.

According to this report, 513 Venezuelans died between 2009 and 2018. In 2015, 25 violent deaths of Venezuelans were reported, in 2016 30 were recorded, in 2017 93 were counted and 273 last year.

Between 2017 and 2018 the figure almost tripled and if the trend of the first seven months of 2019 continues, it will exceed that of last year.

The study also reported 69 Venezuelan suicides between 2009 and 2018. In the first seven months of 2019, 18 suicides were recorded, that is, more than two on average per month.

More than 1.4 million Venezuelans are in Colombia, which became the main recipient of immigrants fleeing the political, economic and social crisis in their country.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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