GENEVA: UN rights chief Volker Turk on Tuesday urged Venezuela to free all activists arbitrarily detained by the authorities for their “civic engagement.”
Turk told the Human Rights Council that since he last updated the top United Nations rights body in June, the situation in Venezuela had not improved.
“I urge the unconditional release of all those arbitrarily detained for their civic engagement — including Rocio San Miguel, Javier Tarazona, Carlos Julio Rojas, Eduardo Torres, and Kennedy Tejeda — their family members, and four adolescents who remain in custody after the 2024 elections,” he said.
The protests that followed the July presidential election, when President Nicolas Maduro claimed a third term despite accusations of fraud from the opposition and numerous countries, resulted in 28 deaths and around 2,400 arrests, with nearly 2,000 people released since then.
The rights group Foro Penal estimates that there are at least 889 “political prisoners” in the country’s prisons.
