Venezuela: Detention of Human Rights lawyer

VEN 001 / 9806 / OBS 038
June 9th 1998

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint
programme of the FIDH and OMCT, requests your urgent intervention
regarding the following situation in Venezuela.


Description of the situation:

The Observatory has been informed by reliable sources that, on Friday
June 5th, 1998, the lawyer, Mr. Carlos Nieta Palma, a human rights
activist in Venezuela, has been detained and intimidated for a few
hours as he was about to leave for his office, located between the
streets of Gradillas and Sociedad, in building No. 19, office 117, in
the centre of the city of Caracas. Mr. Carlos Nieto Palma is President
of a non-governmental organisation for the defence and promotion of
human rights of those individuals who are detained in Venezuelan
jails. Since December 10th, 1997, this organisation along with twelve
others has formed a Coalition of Organisations in favour of the
Transformation of Penitentiaries, known as "La Ventana a La Libertad".

Mr. Carlos Nieta Palma was intercepted by three men who told him that
they were police officials even though they did not show him any
official identification that proved their identity. They asked him to
follow them. The lawyer, Mr. Carlos Nieta Palma was taken to a white,
Mitsubishi car and driven to a house in the suburbs of Caracas, to a
well-known ice-cream parlour in the Santa Mónica neighbourhood. The
absence of public signs makes it impossible to determine whether this
place is the official headquarters of a security group.

The three men proceeded to interrogate him, asking him about his
alleged activities - organising a conspiracy in jails and preparing a
mutiny among detainees- in several penitential centres of the country.
They warned him "to be careful of what he became involved in, told him
that they were already keeping an eye on him and that he should keep
away from riots in our jails which are causing prisoners to kill one
another".

The Observatory would like to express its concern for this human
rights violation and recalls that this act also represents a
transgression against the rights of association and the freedom of
expression.







 Action requested:
Please write to the authorities of Venezuela urging them to:

i. 	-guarantee the safety and the physical and psychological integrity
of the lawyer, Mr. Carlos Nieto Palma;

ii. 	-ensure a thorough investigation into these events, identify
those responsible, bring them to trial and apply sanctions provided by
law;

iii.	-put an end to the harassment against the lawyer, Mr. Carlos
Nieto Palma and all other human rights defenders and allow them to
pursue their work in favour of human rights in the mutinies and riots
in Venezuela;

iv.	-guarantee the respect for human rights and, in general, conform
to the norms established in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
and International Conventions ratified by Venezuela.

Addresses:

-Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos, Doctor Asdrúbal Aguiar,
Secretaría de la Presidencia, Palacio de Miraflores, Caracas,
Venezuela, Fax :+ 58 2 861 0793. -Fiscal General de la República, Dr.
Iván Darío Badell González, Fiscalía General de la República, Esquina
de Manduca a Ferrenquín, La Candelaria, Caracas, Venezuela, Fax:+ 58 2
564 74 61. --Ministerio de Relaciones Interiores, Dr. José Guillermo
Andueza, Ministro de Relaciones Interiores, Esquina de Carmelitas,
Caracas - Ministerio de Justicia, Dr. Hilarión Cardozo, Ministro de
Justicia, Torre Norte, Piso 25, Centro Simón Bolívar Centro, Caracas.
-Sr. Rafael Caldera, Presidente de la República, Palacio de
Miraflores, Caracas, Venezuela. Telex : 21161 MIRAF VC - Fax : + 58 2
83 82 39 -Dr. Rubén Creixems Savignon, Ministro de Justicia,
Ministerio de Justicia, Torre Norte, piso 25, Centro Simón Bolívar,
Caracas, Venezuela. Telex : 21935 MINJU VC - Fax : + 58 2 482 09 94
-Dr. Iván Darío Badell, Fiscal General de la República, La Candelaria,
Caracas, Venezuela. Telex : 24787 EXTER VC General Orozco Graterol,
Ministro de Defensa Nacional, Ministerio de Defensa Nacional, Fuerte
Tiuna, Conejo Blanco, El Valle, Caracas, Venezuela.  Fax : + 58 2 662
8829 (if voice, ask : « me podria dar tono de fax ? »). -Dr. Ramón
Escovar Salom, Ministro de Relaciones Interiores, Ministerio de
Relaciones Interiores, Carmelitas a Santa Capilla, Caracas, Venezuela.
Telex : 26429 EXTER VC -  Fax : + 58 2 815 796

Paris - Geneva- 9 June 1998

Please inform the Observatory of all action undertaken and indicate
the code of this appeal.

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.