Human rights activist Rocío San Miguel acquitted of terrorism by Venezuelan court
A Venezuelan court acquitted human rights activist Rocío San Miguel, who was accused of terrorism and treason. She had been in detention since February 2024.
Third Court acquits San Miguel of all criminal charges
Human rights lawyer and activist Rocío San Miguel received an acquittal ruling from the Third Court of First Instance on Friday, two years after she was implicated in an alleged plot to attack then-president Nicolás Maduro, according to independentespanol.com.
San Miguel, who was accused of treason, conspiracy, terrorism and criminal association, posted on social media that the court declared her "free of all criminal responsibility with respect to the charges brought against me". "This decision ratifies what I have maintained from the first day of my detention, 9 February 2024: I am innocent," said the Spanish-Venezuelan activist.
On the eve of the ruling, Prosecutor General Larry Devoe indicated that the Public Ministry had requested the acquittal of San Miguel and three other individuals following "an objective analysis of the facts and evidence".
The activist, an expert in security, military matters and defence, was among the first prisoners released after Maduro's capture in January, in the context of a United States military operation, and following the announcement by acting president Delcy Rodríguez of the release of a significant group of political prisoners. With the Venezuelan government's consent, San Miguel subsequently moved to Spain, although she clarified at that time that her release constituted a precautionary measure substituting imprisonment and not full freedom.
In May she returned to Venezuela with the aim of pushing for the closure of her case under the Amnesty Act, legislation which enables the mass release of prisoners on political grounds and which allows those in exile to request amnesty through a legal representative. In practice, this law prevented her from being imprisoned upon her return while the case was being reviewed.
San Miguel, 60 years old, had been detained at El Helicoide, a prison located at a facility of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service. Local and international human rights organisations, including Human Rights Watch, reported in several documents the practice of torture and physical and psychological abuse against detainees at that facility. The acting president recently ordered its closure.
The activist directed Control Ciudadano, a non-governmental organisation founded in early 2005 to promote citizen oversight of security and defence matters. A year before its creation, San Miguel had been dismissed from the National Border Council after signing a list that sought to trigger a referendum to cut the mandate of then-president Hugo Chávez. Hundreds of people reported that their appearance on that list cost them their jobs in the public sector.
Source: Google News VE — Crime