IFEX calls on the Venezuelan government to immediately release Eduardo Torres

The Belaru­sian Asso­ci­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists joined an open let­ter from inter­na­tion­al orga­ni­za­tions demand­ing the release of the Venezue­lan human rights defend­er.

We, the under­signed civ­il soci­ety organ­i­sa­tions, are writ­ing to you urgent­ly to request the imme­di­ate release of Eduar­do Tor­res, a lawyer, teacher, trade union­ist, and human rights defend­er, and a mem­ber of the Venezue­lan Pro­gram for Human Rights Edu­ca­tion-Action (PROVEA), who is cur­rent­ly detained, iso­lat­ed, and incom­mu­ni­ca­do.

On May 9, 2025, Eduar­do dis­ap­peared and for eight days there was no infor­ma­tion on his where­abouts. Although offi­cials final­ly pub­licly acknowl­edged his deten­tion on May 13, there was no fur­ther are also unknown. Eduardo’s fam­i­ly and lawyers sub­mit­ted a habeas cor­pus appeal, which judi­cial author­i­ties infor­ma­tion pro­vid­ed regard­ing the date, time, place or secu­ri­ty force that car­ried out the arrest. There has also been no infor­ma­tion from the Prosecutor’s Office that would be respon­si­ble for over­see­ing an inves­ti­ga­tion, nor on the exis­tence of any arrest war­rant. Charges against him ini­tial­ly reject­ed, before accept­ing it on May 12. The appeal is still pend­ing a response.  

The process against Eduar­do Tor­res has lacked trans­paren­cy and access to time­ly infor­ma­tion for his fam­i­ly and legal coun­sel of his own choos­ing. A month lat­er, nei­ther fam­i­ly mem­bers nor trust­ed lawyers have had any kind of con­tact with him and have not been able to ver­i­fy his con­di­tions of deten­tion or health sit­u­a­tion. The fam­i­ly have only been able to con­tact the pub­lic defend­er assigned to his case, who informed them that there is a vis­i­ta­tion ban for Eduar­do, thus vio­lat­ing his right to due process, com­mu­ni­ca­tion and legit­i­mate defence. 

Con­cerned stake­hold­ers, includ­ing inter­na­tion­al human rights pro­tec­tion sys­tems such as the Inter-Amer­i­can Com­mis­sion on Human Rights, Unit­ed Nations bod­ies, and hun­dreds of inter­na­tion­al orga­ni­za­tions have demand­ed his imme­di­ate release. 

We take this oppor­tu­ni­ty to remind the Venezue­lan author­i­ties that, in accor­dance with the Uni­ver­sal Dec­la­ra­tion of Human Rights, the Inter­na­tion­al Covenant on Civ­il and Polit­i­cal Rights and oth­er rel­e­vant inter­na­tion­al human rights stan­dards, they must guar­an­tee that human rights defend­ers can car­ry out their work freely and safe­ly, with­out fear of harass­ment, reprisals or impris­on­ment.

We urge you as an author­i­ty of the State of Venezuela to take mea­sures that will: 

• Allow Eduar­do reg­u­lar com­mu­ni­ca­tion with fam­i­ly mem­bers and trust­ed lawyers, in com­pli­ance with inter­na­tion­al and con­sti­tu­tion­al legal oblig­a­tions and in respect for his right to due process; 
• Facil­i­tate his access to his trust­ed lawyers; and  
• Grant his full and imme­di­ate release.

Signed,

Asso­ci­a­tion for Free­dom of Thought and Expres­sion (AFTE)
Belaru­sian Asso­ci­a­tion of Jour­nal­ists (BAJ)
Cana­di­an Jour­nal­ists for Free Expres­sion (CJFE)
Cen­tro de Archivos y Acce­so a la Infor­ma­ción Públi­ca (CAin­fo Uruguay)
Com­mit­tee to Pro­tect Jour­nal­ists (CPJ)
Dere­chos Dig­i­tales
Free­dom of Expres­sion Insti­tute (FXI)
IFoX / Ini­tia­tive for Free­dom of Expres­sion- Turkey
Open­Media
PEN Cana­da
South East Europe Media Organ­i­sa­tion (SEEMO)
The Inde­pen­dent Jour­nal­ism Cen­ter Moldo­va