Perkins Rocha’s family demands his freedom after a month in prison
The family of lawyer Perkins Rocha, legal advisor of the main opposition coalition in Venezuela – the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) -, demanded this Friday the “immediate” release of the jurist, arrested a month ago.
His wife, María Costanza Cipriani, reported that since Rocha’s “kidnapping” on August 27, she and the legal advisor’s lawyer have not had “access to him or his file.”
«We request his immediate freedom because demanding that the will of the Venezuelan people expressed on July 28 be fulfilled is not a crime. Resist, Perkins, we are not collapsing,” Cipriani said in a video he published on X.
Santiago Rocha, son of the detainee, assured that “to this day” they have not “been able to have any type of direct contact with him,” which is why he demanded that the Venezuelan State allow access to his father, whom he considers a “victim.” of arbitrary detention.
“He continues, to this day, isolated from his family and lawyer, violating his human rights,” said the young man on the same social network, where he also demanded his “immediate” release.
The Human Rights Committee of Vente Venezuela (VV) – party of the opposition leader Maria Corina Machado-, as well as NGOs and opposition leaders, also demanded the freedom of the PUD’s legal advisor and “all political prisoners.”
On August 29, Cipriani assured that her husband, one of the main collaborators of Machado and the opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia, the PUD’s standard bearer in the presidential elections, was accused of five crimes – “terrorism, treason, conspiracy, association to commit a crime and instigation of hatred” – in “a hearing with the assistance of a public defender”, and denounced that they denied him “his right to private defense.”
Since the arrest, the PUD and his family have demanded the release of his legal advisor, as well as the cessation of “the persecution” that – he warns – has “worsened” after the presidential elections of July 28, in which the president Nicolás Maduro was proclaimed the winner by the electoral body, and endorsed by the Supreme Court, a result designated as “fraudulent” by the PUD, which defends the “victory” that González Urrutia, who is now exiled in Spain, obtained.
Resist Perkins! ‼️
his wife, @MaCostanzaCRdemands his immediate release, since “demanding that the will expressed on July 28 be fulfilled is not a crime.” pic.twitter.com/lSEbOICHAj
— Human Rights Vente Venezuela (@VenteDDHH) September 27, 2024
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