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RED VZLA Urgent Request to the OTP-3

REDACTED Page 140 of 190 contrary to the GoV’s policy. An even more troubling incident targeted Leopoldo’s sister, Diana López, who was the subject of an attempted kidnapping on 15 October 2015, when three armed men approached her personal assistant, Jorge Leones, and demanded he drives them to Diana.598 When he refused, the men took Leones to an isolated location where they interrogated and brutally beat him during twelve hours. The assailants then tried to force Leones to leave incriminating information in Diana’s home. The next morning, Leones escaped his captors and contacted his family. iv) Luis Augusto Matheus Chirinos On 21 February 2014, in Valencia (Carabobo State), Luis Augusto Matheus Chirinos was approached and arrested by approximately 10 members of the National Guard at the entrance of a housing complex (urbanización).599 He was standing peacefully, waiting for a friend he had gone to pick up, while an anti-government demonstration was taking place nearby.600 Nevertheless, he was arrested and taken to a military complex of the National Guard.601 In this complex, Matheus Chirinos was beaten, threatened, and told to repeat that Nicolás Maduro was the President of Venezuela. He was held incommunicado for two days and subsequently charged with several crimes.602 Eventually, Chirinos’ lawyer presented a video to the authorities, which proved that he was not armed at the moment of the arrest and he was released.603 Nevertheless, the judge ruled that the evidence outlined in the police report and the investigation carried out by prosecutors provided sufficient evidence to charge Matheus with interfering with public roads (obstaculización de la vía pública), incitement to commit crimes (instigación pública), resistance to authority (resistencia a la autoridad), and association to commit crimes (asociación para delinquir) and ordered his pretrial 598 EL PAIS. (2015) La hermana de Leopoldo denuncia un intento de secuestro. El País. [Online]17 October. Available from: http://internacional.elpais.com/internacional/2015/10/17/america/1445103091_054308.html 601 PARDO, D. (2014) Los excesos de la justicia venezolana en las protestas. BBC. [Online] 19 March. Available from: http://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias/2014/03/140317_venezuela_justicia_protestas_dp [Accessed 25 October, 2015] 602 HRW (2014). Punished for Protesting: Rights Violations in Venezuela’s Streets, Detention Centers, and Justice System. p.98 603 PARDO, D. (2014) Los excesos de la justicia venezolana en las protestas

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