Original: Spanish
The World Council of the Socialist International, meeting in Geneva on 12-13 December 2014, after having received the report of the SI Special Envoys on their visit to Caracas on 13-16 November, and having listened to Lilian Tintori, the wife of Leopoldo López, and the views of its member parties in Venezuela, and the International Coordinator of the Mesa de Unidad Democrática, resolves:
To endorse the conclusions of the Special Envoys’ report in which it is stated that the detention of López must be considered illegal and arbitrary due to the continuous irregularities and delays in the legal proceedings; the permanent denial to requests of provisional release, which ignores the principle of presumption of innocence; the violation of his human rights during the ten months he has been held in prison; illicit penitentiary punishments, isolation, obstruction of his private communication with his lawyer and constant restrictions to his visitors; and especially, for the political nature of the charges against him;
To deplore the fact that the government authorities did not respond to the initiative of this International, missing out on an opportunity for dialogue with its Special Envoys which would have made it possible to open a way forward towards the freedom of Leopoldo López and the other political prisoners. Furthermore, to deplore as well that the Venezuelan government, the legislative power and the Judiciary had paid no attention until now to the different statements by organs of the United Nations that have demanded the immediate liberation of Leopoldo López and other political prisoners;
To request that the Venezuelan authorities respect the full autonomy of the Judiciary so that they may fulfil with impartiality their role of guarantors of the human rights of all the Venezuelans. At the same time, to urge the Prosecutor to fulfil his functions within the framework of the Rule of Law, underlining that its proper functioning is especially important in a nation that shows high levels of violence and insecurity and where the people feel fear and vulnerability due to the impunity applied to many grave crimes;
To request the International Committee of the Red Cross to send a mission to Venezuela to inspect the prison conditions, and, in particular, to visit the political prisoners;
To condemn the arbitrary and illegal detention and the imprisonment of Leopoldo López, Daniel Ceballos, Vicenzo Scarano and hundreds of other Venezuelans who are political prisoners;
To condemn the repression of political protests and the massive detention of university students;
To request the liberation of Leopoldo López, Daniel Ceballos, Vicenzo Scarano and other political prisoners in the country;
To ask the Venezuelan government to respect its obligations contained in the International Pact of Civil and Political Rights;
To request the Venezuelan government to respect its obligations contained in the Treaties under the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment, of which Venezuela is part;
To request conditions for the return of political figures in exile, in particular Manuel Rosales, leader of UNT, Carlos Ortega and Carlos Vecchio;
To call for the lifting of the censorship on the freedom of information which has been imposed in Venezuela;
To once again express its solidarity with the Venezuelan people and their prisoners of conscience, reiterating the engagement of the Socialist International with Venezuelan democracy, calling for the immediate freedom of Leopoldo López and all the people who are in jail today for political reasons.
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