Thanks so much, Chairman Reid, members of the distinguished subcommittee, ladies and gentlemen. It's great to be here with you again today. As you will recall, I spent five years as Aung San Suu Kyi's international lawyer. I currently represent Liu Xiaobo and prisoner of conscience cases are really my specialty.
I mentioned their names, not merely because they are a former and a current client but because Leopoldo López in reading his speeches and his writings, as I would encourage you to do, sounds much like the two of them, like Václav Havel, Nelson Mandela and soon, unfortunately, will become as well known as them, given his ongoing detention in Venezuela.
There are three things I'll talk about as quickly as I can this afternoon. First, a little bit more of the details of the case itself so you understand what he's been charged with and the lack of due process in his case. Second, what we've been doing around the world. Then last, what I think Canada might consider doing to be of help.
Leopoldo has been charged with four crimes: incitement to commit violence, conspiracy, arson, and property damage. He is facing 12 years in prison. As Lilian noted, the indictment itself is like reading a work of science fiction. In short, even though they acknowledge that he advocates non-violence and advocates reforms through the constitution, they say that he uses subliminal messages to persuade people to engage in acts of violence. Obviously, on the face of it that is utterly ludicrous, and as a lawyer I try to choose my words carefully.
He is being held in violation of articles 19, 20, and 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which Venezuela is a party. Article 19 is the right to freedom of opinion and expression. Article 20 is the right to freedom of association. Article 21 is the right to political participation.
The trial is equally outrageous and the Government of Venezuela is not even pretending or even trying to make it appear like a fair trial. All these violations I'm going to describe are violations of article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights that relates to rights of due process.
First let's talk about the presumption of innocence. Maduro said 11 times in the year before Leopoldo was even detained that he would be going to prison, that the cell was, and I quote, “ready” for him, and made very clear that he was going to be arresting and detaining Leopoldo. Since his arrest and his ongoing detention over the last nine months, on national television President Maduro said Leopoldo has, and again I quote, “a crazy messianic vision” and that he has a way of talking that makes people go crazy.
Most recently he publicly referred to Leopoldo López as the murderer of Ramo Verde, the prison he is being held in. That is interesting in a whole host of respects, given that he has of course never actually been charged with murder. I just described the charges against him. Yet the president of the country is saying that he is a murderer.
In addition, he is being denied attorney-client communications in private. He hasn't had a single communication with his lawyers that hasn't been observed either by tape recording or by prison guards themselves. In addition, the judge in this case has approved 100 witnesses for the prosecution and denied 58 of the 60 witnesses for the defence. He is being denied entirely his right to present a defence in his case.
Furthermore, there has been a lack of an independent and impartial judiciary. It's not often as a human rights lawyer that I get the opportunity to have proof of such a fact. Usually, I just know it to be the case. The first judge in his case, after confirming the four charges against him, was texted by a friend in Miami asking, “Why did you do this?” She responded via text message “I had no choice. It was either do that or lose my job.” That friend then took the text message to the media and the media confirmed the phone was the judge's phone. The judge, not surprisingly, is no longer on the case and, in fact, is now in exile.
Similarly and even more outrageous is actually the role that the legislature has played in this case. In fact, the president of the national assembly has been personally involved in this case in ways that I find, as an international lawyer,strange and bizarre. I think you would find it equally that way. Specifically, for the several days in between when Leopoldo was accused of these crimes and when he turned himself in, you had the president of the national assembly coming to the family home in the middle of the night with 75 guys with weapons and ski masks on, trying to privately persuade the family to go into exile. The president of the national assembly said that Leopoldo was innocent, that he knew he was innocent, but the Government of Venezuela could not protect him any longer and that his life was in danger and that the plane was ready. All they needed to do was say the word and he would get Leopoldo, Lilian, and the children on the plane to leave the country.
Obviously, he turned down that offer that was relayed to him.
Later, after the day that he was arrested, on February 18, he was detained, as Lilian mentioned, by military guards, members of the military. What's odd about that is, of course, he was detained by the military and is in military prison, but he's never actually served in the military and never been charged with any violations of military justice.
He was initially taken, after his arrest, to a military base and then he was going to be driven for his first hearing to meet with the judge. It turns out that his chauffeur, to take him from the military base to the court, was the president of the national assembly, in the car, alone with him, in a convoy that was being operated by the military itself.
So imagine, your Speaker of the House driving a charged criminal to his first court appearance and, of course, he was trying to persuade him to go into exile, which he declined to do. I'd be remiss if not just briefly mentioning the torture that has been committed against Leopoldo through the extended solitary confinement as well as the cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment, and a whole host of tactics.
In this one case, which is the highest political prisoner case in Venezuela today, the government has, with impunity, violated Leopoldo López' right to freedom of opinion and expression, right to freedom of association, right to political participation, right to the presumption of innocence, right to confidential attorney-client communications, right to an independent and impartial judiciary, and right to be free from torture and other cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, which of course is also a violation of the convention against torture.
If this is what they do to their highest profile political prisoner, imagine what life is like for the rest of the political prisoners and for the average person on the street in Venezuela when they end up getting into the crosshairs of the government.
We've made a lot of progress on Leopoldo's case in the last number of months. We've had the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention call for his release. We met with the high commissioner for human rights in Geneva, and had a very positive meeting with him. He publicly called for the release of Leopoldo López and Mayor Ceballos, who is also a subject of the UN opinion on all political prisoners.
The secretary general of the Organization of American States has said that all political prisoners in Venezuela must be freed. Lilian met with the Spanish prime minister who publicly called for Leopoldo's release. President Obama publicly called for his release. The New York Times and The Washington Post editorial boards published editorials on the same day calling for Leopoldo's release and other political prisoners on the day Maduro arrived in New York for the opening the UN General Assembly. Of course Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International called for his release.
While on the one hand that may sound like an impressive list, as you can see by the results, the reality is that we are not yet where we need to be, which is that Leopoldo and all the political prisoners of the country be freed, that the impunity be ended, and that the security forces who murdered 42 people be prosecuted for murdering innocent civilians who were non-violently protesting. There were more than 3,000 detentions, as Lilian mentioned, and some 250 other people are being put on trial for various alleged violations.
We need your help and support. We need Canada's help and support, as a freedom-loving country, to stand in solidarity with the people of Venezuela at this very dark hour.
I'll just conclude with three things that would be of great value if Canada might consider doing. The first would be to see if your Parliament would be able, on a cross-party basis of course, to adopt a motion calling for the release of Leopoldo, all political prisoners in the country, and also addressing the broader situation in Venezuela as it relates to human rights.
You'll have a new ambassador of Venezuela coming to Ottawa to present his credentials in January. My hope would be that every member of Parliament who sees him—he's an ex-major general in the Venezuelan military—makes clear that, across all political parties in Canada, Venezuela needs to address its human rights work on an urgent basis.
I would also urge you to consider the fact that you will have heard Lilian here today when you then see foreign country ambassadors here, particularly from Latin America, to ask them what they're doing to try to address the broader situation in Venezuela.
Finally, although Lilian didn't say so, except briefly, it's important to note how dangerous the situation is for Lilian and her family on the ground. We really need the strong voice of Canada to make sure that she remains safe and secure, that her children remain safe and secure, and that her family remain safe and secure. Every time she comes out of the country to do something like this, she is literally risking her life and putting her family in harm's way.
It isn't just a theoretical concern. The president of the country, on national television, accused Lilian of being complicit with the CIA in trying to secure the extradition of the former head of the Venezuelan security forces intelligence service who was being detained at that time this past summer in Aruba, and the U.S. was seeking his extradition.
These charges are, of course, outrageous and deeply troubling, but it also demonstrates the fear that the government and the president, in particular, has of Leopoldo and especially of Lilian these days, given the strong message that she conveys around the world.
It has been a real pleasure to be with you all here today. I really appreciate all your time and support.
Thank you so much.