“It’s not normal,” Provea’s campaign denouncing that searching phones without a court order is illegal

The NGO Provea denounced this Thursday “Illegal cell phone inspection“which – it said – is carried out by police and military personnel. According to the organization, “it has become a common abuse” and has led to “unjustified arrests or arbitrary bribes”, as well as generating “a state of fear and distrust among people.”

“It is not normal to have to delete messages, photos, networks or any content for fear that it is subversive,” the NGO said through X, while denouncing phone searches “without a court order.”

He warned that searching a phone without a warrant is a “direct violation” of the right to privacy, as outlined in the Constitution.

“The Constitution establishes that the right to privacy is inviolable, and that any intervention in private communications must be authorized by a court order,” Provea said.

He added that the phone search goes “against” the principle of “due process.” He said that every person has the right “to be informed of the charges against which they are being investigated and to have access to a defense attorney.”

Without a court order, phones cannot be searched

The organization asked Venezuelans not to “allow” the “simple act of carrying a phone” to become a “risk” to “freedom,” and urged them to file a complaint and demand action from state agencies.

The NGO recalled that after the official announcement of the presidential elections, which gave re-election to Nicolás Maduro – considered “fraudulent” by anti-Chavez supporters and part of the international community – 25 deaths and more than 2,400 arrests were recorded, according to the authorities, during post-electoral protests, in addition to “at least 50 (people) missing” that Provea says it has documented “in the midst of the repression.”

“These events are part of a systematic policy of repression and persecution that seeks to silence dissenting voices and control the country’s narrative,” he said.

This Wednesday, the president of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), Roberta Clarke, denounced “harassment against people perceived as opponents, censorship and restrictions on freedoms of expression, association and assembly” in Venezuela, and presented a report to the Permanent Council of the OAS on the human rights situation in the Caribbean country.

Meanwhile in #Venezuela…

ILLEGAL cell phone inspections by police and military personnel have become a common abuse.

It is not normal to have to delete messages, photos, networks or any content for fear of it being “subversive”, searches without a court order.

Art. 48… pic.twitter.com/bFwZClFJJb

— PROVEA (@_Provea) August 29, 2024