Two other minors on trial for post-election protests

History repeats itself. 24 hours later, others two minors were put on trial during the telematic preliminary hearing held from Caracas by Judge Keidimar Ramos Castillo, head of the second court with jurisdiction in terrorism, but which the teenagers witnessed from the Criminal Judicial Circuit of San Juan de Los Morros.

There are already 11 minorsresiding in Carabobo, put on trial for post-election protests. The two teenagers this Thursday joined the group of seven presented on Wednesday and two who had attended the hearing on Friday, September 27. They all received the same measure, which to their families seems like a script, previously written.

They were transferred to the court headquarters from their place of confinement, also in the town of Guariqueña, despite the fact that they reside in the south of Valencia. A third minor, held in Valencia, was not transferred to the Palace of Justice in the Carabobo capital for the telematic hearing, the reason is unknown.

Two other minors put on trial for protests

As in the two previous preliminary hearings, the procedure was the same. The prosecutor requested a 10-year sentence for the crimes of terrorism, incitement to hatred, obstruction of public roads and resistance to authority. In these two cases, improper use of military uniforms and insignia was added. There was no major opposition. The public defender, Kelly Pérez, requested a review of the measure that Judge Ramos denied.

But before doing so, Ramos repeated the offer: If they plead guilty, they will serve a sentence of 6 years and 8 months, without benefits. Otherwise they will go to trial and risk receiving a punishment of 10 years in prison.

The young people, 17 years old, did not accept. They will go to trial, even with the fear that legality is not on their side. It hasn’t been until now: They should have been presented in the first 10 days after their arrest, but 63 have passed. and just this Thursday was the preliminary hearing.

On this occasion, the documentation that his parents submitted to the public defender’s office to prove his innocence was not valid either. It was time and money invested by her parents that disappeared: The judge claimed not to have any document promoted as evidence by the defense.

For some diapers

To fulfill his responsibility as a new father, the 17-year-old went out to buy some diapers. He was still celebrating his graduation, last July 25. But on the 29th, When he returned with the supplies for his 7-month-old son, he was detained by police officials at the El Combate field, south of Valencia.

His mother looked for him all night, as soon as she found a police or military command she asked about the teenager. He went to the hospitals and even the morgue. He didn’t get it.

He decided to go to Fort Paramacay and they told him that he was not there. His disappearance was spread on social networks.

On Wednesday, July 31, at 3:00 in the afternoon, they called her from the Palace of Justice. Her son was there and out of excitement when she saw him she ran and hugged him, with permission from the public defender at the time. But he asked her not to: “Mommy, everything hurts, don’t hug me, they beat me horribly and planted me”.

This teenager’s “serious mistake” was running when he saw the police. «It was an impulse, he was scared. One of the officers fired two shots, the second he stopped. They took off his diapers, threw him on the floor and kicked him, took off his shoes and forced him to put on police shoes. “They were officials from the Criminal Investigation Directorate of the Bolivarian National Police.”

Tortured and confessed

At the police headquarters in Valencia, where his mother went several times and was always denied the presence of her son, he was tortured until he finally agreed to record a video, his relatives said. «He did it when they threatened to break his head. He ‘confessed’ that he received $30 for going out to protest”.

He was then transferred to the PNB headquarters in Los Guayos. He was there for 15 days, almost without eating because the food and medicines disappeared. “We had to pay for the medicines to arrive.”

Like his co-trial, when he was held in Carabobo he shared a cell with common prisoners, some with tuberculosis, according to his relatives. Then they moved them to a cell where only minors were held, but They began to beat them every night. Finally they were taken to San Juan de los Morros.

If you run we shoot

In Lomas Funval, near his home, another 17-year-old teenager was arrested. It was around 8:00 p.m. on July 29 and he had left his pregnant girlfriend’s house. PNB DIP officials on several motorcycles surrounded him, put a rifle to his forehead and threatened to shoot him if he ran.

At the police headquarters They beat him and took off his shoes, forcing him to wear military boots. Both young people were charged with the crime of improper use of military uniforms and insignia.

His mother also went to look for him at Fort Paramacay, where they told her that there were no minors there. On the 30th they called her from the Palace of Justice.

None have a private attorney. They have no right to have it, nor to see the file. They tell them it’s illegal.

A month ago, a public defender in Caracas called relatives to announce that their children’s release tickets were in the capital. They went looking for them for several days, they still can’t find them. Only four lefthis children were left waiting.

Today they, like other mothers who share this misfortune, are willing to denounce to the world what is happening to them. “It was a mistake to remain silent, these people have no heart or respect for legality.”