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ACTION REQUEST

Bolivia: Harrasment of Human Rights Worker

URGENT ACTION - OBSERVATORY

BOL 001 / 9709/OBS 011
Harassment /Threats
BOLIVIA
September  24th 1997


The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint
FIDH and OMCT programme, request your URGENT intervention in the
following situation in Bolivia :

Description of  events :

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders has to
express grave concern at the systematic harassment of Mr. Waldo
ALBARRACIN SANCHEZ since the beginning of 1997. Mr ALBARRACIN SANCHEZ
is, President of the Permanent Human Rights Assembly of Bolivia
(APDHB), a member organisation of both FIDH and OMCT.

On January 25th 1997, Mr. ALBARRACIN SANCHEZ was abducted by a group
of eight persons who subjected him to torture over a period of about
three hours before leaving  him in a cell of the Technical Judicial
Police (see appeal BOL 290197 dispatched by OMCT). Numerous Human
Rights organisations then took up the case: the FIDH sent a mission to
Bolivia in order to inquire into the events identify those responsible
and request the authorities to ensure the physical and psychological
integrity of Mr. ALBARRACIN SANCHEZ

Apparently certain officers belonging to the Technical Judicial Police
have been implicated in this affair, yet  up to now only General Willy
ARRIAZA, Commander of the Bolivian National Police, has been removed
from his post. No result has been published from the inquiry carried
out by the Chambers of Deputies' Commission on the Constitution
Justice and Judicial Police, nor has it been examined  by the Chamber
of Deputies.

According to information received from the Bolivian Permanent Human
Rights Assembly, since his abduction Mr, Waldo ALBARRACIN SANCHEZ and
his family have received repeated death threats over the telephone at
their home and also at the college attended by his children. In March
of 1997, he was forced to move house as the Bolivian authorities had
neither taken measures to protect him, nor to investigate the threats
made against him.

On September 1st 1997, a woman telephoned the headquarters of the
APDHB to inform Mr. Waldo ALBARRACIN SANCHEZ that his youngest son had
been run over by a car in the centre of La Paz. After investigation,
it turned out that his son was at the dentist. Nevertheless, the event
demonstrates that the members of the ALBARRACIN family are being
followed, since the son was actually in the area where the alleged
accident was supposed to have taken place. Following this, Mr. Waldo
ALBARRACIN SANCHEZ filed a complaint with the Bolivian Government
against the actions of extreme psychological harassment aimed at him,
his family and his organisation.

Action requested:

i	take immediate measures to guarantee the physical and psychological
integrity of Mr. Waldo ALBARRACIN SANCHEZ and his family;

ii 	request that the Chambers of Deputies' Commission on the
Constitution Justice and Judicial Police publishes its findings and
that proceedings against those involved in the abduction be initiated
as soon as is possible;

iii	carry out a thorough and impartial investigation of the acts
described above in order to identify those responsible for the acts of
systematic intimidation of Mr. ALBARRACIN SANCHEZ and his family, and
ensure that all those responsible be prosecuted and duly punished;

iv	take urgent measures in order to guarantee that non-governmental
human rights organisations and their members enjoy, without hindrance,
freedom of action in the promotion and defence of fundamental rights
and liberties;

v	more generally, to abide by the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights and International Conventions ratified by Bolivia.

Addresses:

S.E. Lic. Gonzálo Sánchez de Lozada, Presidente de la República,
alacio de Gobierno, La Paz, Bolivia. Fax : + 5912 392606

Dr. Franklin Amaya, Ministro de Gobierno, Ministerio del Interior, Av.
Arce esq. Belisario Salinas, La Paz, Bolivia. Fax : + 5912 371334

Dr. Antonio Aranibal Quiroga, Ministro de Relaciones Exteriores y
Culto, Ministerio de Relaciones Exeriores y Culto, La Paz, Bolivia Fax
: + 5912 371155

Embassies of Bolivia in your respective countries

Geneva - Paris 24th September

Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code number of
this appeal in your reply.
Ben Schonveld
Projects Manager
Case Postale 119
37-39 Rue de Vermont



The Human Rights Actions Network

Human Rights in Bolivia


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The Human Rights Action Network, a part of Derechos Human Rights, distributes appeals on behalf of victims of human rights violations. You are invited to join the network. Please check the date of the present action and do not write if it's over a month old.