Foro Penal

Foro Penal (transl. Penal Forum) is a Venezuelan human rights organization that provides legal assistance pro bono to people subject of arbitrary detentions and their relatives. The organization is composed of regional coordinators for each state in Venezuela, pro bono lawyers on a national level and a network of over five thousand volunteers, non-lawyer activists, known as "active defensors".[1][2]

Foro Penal
Formation22 June 2005
TypeNon-profit NGO
Location
FieldsHuman rights activism
Director
Alfredo Romero
Websiteforopenal.com

Structure

Foro Penal is constituted as a civil association composed of regional coordinators for each state in Venezuela, pro bono lawyers on a national level and a network of over five thousand volunteers, non-lawyer activists, known as "active defensors". The directive board is made up of Alfredo Romero, director president, Gonzalo Himiob, director vicepresident.[3]

The organization publishes reports documenting the number of arbitrary detentions and political prisoners in Venezuela, figures that are certified by the Organization of American States.[4][5][6]

History
Alfredo Romero, director president
Gonzalo Himiob, director vicepresident

Lawyers Alfredo Romero and Gonzalo Himiob founded the non-governmental organization Víctimas Venezolanas de Violaciones a los Derechos Humanos (VIVE) as a response to human rights violations that occurred after the Llaguno Overpass events in Caracas on 11 April, 2002. Lawyers Carlos Bastidas Espinoza and Mónica Fernández, among others, founded the NGO Foro Penal Venezolano,[7][8] and both organizations would later merge to create Foro Penal.[9] The Penal Forum was the first organization to go to the newly founded International Criminal Court to denounce that crimes against humanity were being committed in Venezuela.[10]

In 2008, the organization asked the Supreme Tribunal of Justice to nullify the Military Intelligence and Counterintelligence Law, popularly known as the Snitch Law, which established as compulsory for any person to comply with intelligence tasks if requested by the authorities.[11][12]

During the student hunger strike in 2009, Foro Penal assumed the defense of that year's 47 political prisoners and requested the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to "verify the situation of abuses and illegalities in the cases of those detained, prosecuted and persecuted for their political position". Alfredo Romero, spokesman for the organization, informed that Venezuela was the only Latin American country that refused to receive the IACHR along with Cuba.[13][14] Foro Penal estimated that by that time 2,200 people had been charged for participating in protests, including 500 students.[13]

Foro Penal estimated that between 4 February and 22 October 2014, there were 3383 arbitrary arrests related to protests in the country.[15] The organization also denounced and documented torture during the protests, including beatings and electric shocks.[16][17][18] By the end of April of that year it had documented 70 cases of abuse against detainees; Gonzalo Himiob stated that the abuses were continuous and systematic, and that the mistreatment of prisoners was very similar in all parts of the country.[19] Due to the "meticulous" documentation of human rights violations committed during the 2014 protests and for showing them to the international community, the United States Department of State awarded its annual Human Rights Defender Award to Foro Penal.[20] By this date the NGO had a national network of more than 200 pro bono lawyers and 1 000 human rights activists.[21] Foro Penal has also represented Marvinia Jiménez, who was attacked by officers of the Bolivarian National Guard that year.[22]

The NGO requested precautionary protection measures before the IACHR in favor of Lorent Saleh and Gerardo Carrero, imprisoned in the Bolivarian Intelligence Service's La Tumba, asking the organization to require the Venezuelan government to protect their life and personal integrity. The IACHR granted these measures on 2 March 2015.[23][24]

Arbitrary detentions in Venezuela between 2014 and 2019 according to Foro Penal. Arrests by year in blue and total arrests in red.

In 2017, Foro Penal published a joint report with Human Rights Watch documenting arbitrary detentions, torture, and excessive use of force during the 2017 Venezuelan protests.[25] Between January 1 and October 31, the organization documented 5,511 arrests for political purposes, the highest number of detainees in a year.[26] A report prepared by the organization along with the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights documented that 200 cases of enforced disappearances in 2018 increased to 524 in 2019, attributed to an increase in protests. The analysis concluded that the average disappearance lasted five days, suggesting that the government wanted to avoid the scrutiny that could come with large-scale, long-term detentions.[27][28]

Among the political prisoners represented by Foro Penal are Alejandro Peña Esclusa,[29] Lorent Saleh,[23][24] Karen Palacios[30] and Salvador Franco,[31][32] among others. In 2018 Foro Penal released a documentary on the history of the organization, "Que se haga justicia. La historia del Foro Penal en Venezuela" (lit. 'Let Justice Be Done. The History of Foro Penal in Venezuela.').[33]

By 2021, both Alfredo Romero and Gonzalo Himiob were accredited as counsel at the International Criminal Court.[34]

Attacks

In 2008, Mónica Fernández suffered an attack in which she was shot in the back. Despite being shot very close to her spine she did not suffer major injuries.[35]

Alfredo Romero has been criminalized several times by state officials and in media programs, particularly in Diosdado Cabello's Con El Mazo Dando, has received death threats, has been harassed in national airports and has denounced the intervention of Foro Penal's communications without a warrant. Romero has a cautelary protection measure issued by the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights in 17 March 2015.[36]

During a 2017 interview by Spanish journalist Jordi Évole in the program Salvados, Nicolás Maduro accused Foro Penal of being financed by the United States, as well as other organizations such as Transparency International and Caritas, and of being "directed by delinquents".[37][38]

Awards

Foro Penal has been awarded several times both in Venezuela and abroad, including the award given by the United States government in July 2015, the condecoration to Foro Penal in Zulia state by the State Lawyers Association in August 2015 and the award given by the Barcelona Lawyers Association, Spain, in February 2016. The organization's director, Alfredo Romero, was awarded the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award in 2017.[8] The organization has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2015, 2016 and 2019.[39][40][41] In 2023, the organization was received the Defender of the Year Award from Civil Rights Defenders.[42]

See also

References
  1. "Antecedentes | Foro Penal Venezolano". Foro Penal (in Spanish). Retrieved 9 May 2017.
  2. "¿Qué es el Foro Penal?". Retrieved 28 June 2019.
  3. "¿Qué es el Foro Penal?". Foro Penal. Retrieved 28 June 2019.
  4. Llamas, M. (2017-08-09). "Los asesinatos, violaciones y torturas de la dictadura chavista en Venezuela". Libertad Digital (in European Spanish). Retrieved 2021-10-31.
  5. "Los detenidos en Venezuela desde que empezaron las protestas superan los 5.000". Diario de Navarra. 2017-08-01. Retrieved 2021-10-31.
  6. "Daniel Ortega tiene el doble de presos políticos que Nicolás Maduro". La Prensa Panamá. 2018-11-17. Retrieved 2021-10-31.
  7. "La juez forzada a renunciar". Semana. 16 April 2011. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
  8. Damiano, Daniela (23 January 2018). "FORO PENAL BRINDA APOYO JURÍDICO A PERSONAS DETENIDAS ARBITRARIAMENTE". Amnistía Internacional. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
  9. "Antecedentes | Foro Penal Venezolano". Foro Penal (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 3 September 2017. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
  10. Foro Penal (14 December 2018). "Que Se Haga Justicia (documental corto)". YouTube.
  11. "Hugo Chávez deroga polémica "ley sapo" en Venezuela". Emol (in Spanish). 2008-06-10. Retrieved 2021-10-16.
  12. "Chávez deroga la "ley espía"". 2008-06-11. Retrieved 2021-10-16.
  13. "Huelga de hambre en Venezuela para que permitan evaluar el respeto de los derechos humanos". La Voz de Galicia. 2009-09-30. Retrieved 2021-06-16.
  14. "Estudiantes en huelga de hambre por los presos políticos en Venezuela". ABC. 2009-09-25. Retrieved 2021-06-16.
  15. "Detenciones arbitrarias, torturas y otros tratos crueles, inhumanos y degradantes ( febrero/octubre 2014)". Foro Penal (in European Spanish). 2014-11-30. Retrieved 2021-10-28.
  16. "Estudiantes venezolanos detenidos habrían sufrido torturas, según abogada del Foro Penal Venezolano". NTN24. 16 February 2014. Archived from the original on 14 April 2014. Retrieved 13 April 2014.
  17. "Foro Penal denuncia torturas con descargas eléctricas a mujeres en los senos". Carota Digital. 12 April 2014. Archived from the original on 13 April 2014. Retrieved 13 April 2014.
  18. "En video: Foro Penal denuncia en CNN torturas con descargas eléctricas en Táchira". YoYo Press. 13 April 2014. Archived from the original on 14 April 2014. Retrieved 13 April 2014.
  19. Neuman, William (27 April 2014). "In Venezuela, Protesters Point to Their Scars". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  20. "EEUU premia a Foro Penal por "mostrar violaciones" de derechos en Venezuela". Foro Penal (in European Spanish). 2015-07-16. Retrieved 2021-10-31.
  21. "Winners of the 2014 Human Rights Awards". Departamento de Estado de los Estados Unidos. Retrieved 2021-10-31.
  22. "Marvinia Jiménez: "Después de tres años la represión volvió a mi vida"" (in European Spanish). 2017-05-30. Retrieved 2018-06-01.
  23. "CIDH dictó medidas cautelares de protección a favor de estudiantes Saleh y Carrero". El Nacional. 3 March 2015. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
  24. "CIDH concede medidas cautelares a Lorent Saleh y Gerardo Carrero". El Impulso. 3 March 2015. Retrieved 3 January 2018.
  25. Human Rights Watch; Foro Penal (2017). "5" (PDF). Crackdown on Dissent. Brutality, Torture, and Political Persecution in Venezuela. p. 61. ISBN 978-1-62313-549-2.
  26. "Foro Penal: 2017 año récord de represión en Venezuela". Foro Penal (in European Spanish). 2018-01-11. Retrieved 2021-10-28.
  27. Turkewitz, Julie; Kurmanaev, Anatoly (2020-06-19). "A Knock, Then Gone: Venezuela Secretly Detains Hundreds to Silence Critics". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-06-20.
  28. Foro Penal (23 January 2020). "Reporte Sobre La Represión En Venezuela. Año 2019" (in Spanish): 13. Retrieved 1 February 2020. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  29. "Dictan medida privativa de libertad a Peña Esclusa". La Verdad. 2011-07-16. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2021-10-31.
  30. Noriega, Nadeska (13 July 2019). "Clarinetista cumple 43 días detenida en la Dgcim por su postura política". El Pitazo. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  31. "El preso político indígena Salvador Franco murió por falta de atención médica en una cárcel del régimen de Maduro". infobae. 3 January 2021. Retrieved 2021-10-31.
  32. "Foro Penal: Falleció en El Rodeo II el preso político pemón Salvador Franco". El Nacional. 2021-01-03. Retrieved 2021-10-31.
  33. D'Ambrosio, Linda. "Venezuelan Press » La historia del Foro Penal en Madrid". Venezuelan Press (in European Spanish). Retrieved 2021-10-31.
  34. "Registry". Corte Penal Internacional. Retrieved 2021-10-30.
  35. "Monica Fernández abogada del Foro Penal Venezolano sufre atentado". Foro Penal. 5 January 2008. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
  36. "ALFREDO ROMERO". Defiendo DDHH. 26 May 2016. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
  37. Lozano, Daniel (13 November 2017). "Salvados: la entrevista más perseguida de Jordi Évole no atrapó a Nicolás Maduro". El Mundo. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
  38. "Maduro responde a las acusaciones de tener presos políticos: "En Venezuela hay políticos que han cometido delitos"". La Sexta. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
  39. "Foro Penal Venezolano, nominado al Premio Nobel de la Paz". La Patilla. 22 February 2015. Retrieved 5 April 2018.
  40. "Foro Penal Venezolano nominado al Premio Nobel de la Paz - El Carabobeño". El Carabobeño (in European Spanish). 4 October 2016. Retrieved 5 April 2018.
  41. "Foro Penal fue nominado al Premio Nobel de la Paz". VPItv (in Spanish). 2019-09-24. Retrieved 2023-10-04.
  42. "Foro Penal gana prestigioso premio sueco Civil Rights Defenders por su labor en DDHH". El Estímulo (in Spanish). 2023-04-26. Retrieved 2023-10-04.
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