La Paz, Jul 7 (EFE).- Human rights activist Fernando Hamdan was arrested Sunday as part of investigations into the military uprising that occurred on June 26 in Bolivia, the Ombudsman’s Office confirmed, while also denouncing that its work to verify the situation of the detainee was obstructed.
Hamdan, who heads the Ibero-American Commission on Human Rights for the Development of the Americas (CIDHPDA) in Bolivia, was arrested early this morning in the eastern region of Santa Cruz and transferred to La Paz “in the context of the events that occurred on June 26,” the Ombudsman’s Office said in a press release.
A commission of the defense approached the offices of the Special Force to Fight Crime (FELCC) in La Paz “to ensure the right to integrity of the prisoner,” a task that began at noon and that “was hindered for several hours,” the institution indicated.
At 7:00 p.m. in Bolivia (23:00 GMT), “contact was made with the citizen and it was confirmed that his physical integrity was not affected and he has two private lawyers,” he added.
The Ombudsman’s Office has “strongly rejected any obstruction of the work it carries out in defending the human rights” of prisoners.
The State considered it “imperative to remind the State that the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture has unrestricted access to any place of detention, including police cells and penitentiary centers throughout the country to ensure the health and integrity of the people” who are in these facilities “with prompt and timely actions” to “prevent possible acts of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and to respect the rights of people arrested, apprehended, or subjected to any type of deprivation of liberty or state custody.”
Earlier, lawyer Jorge Valda, one of Hamdan’s defenders, denounced the activist’s arrest to the media and indicated that they do not know the acts for which he is accused.
Valda said the arrest was “alarming for human rights defenders” because Hamdan had been working to defend some “political prisoners” in Bolivia.
“We are extremely surprised that he has been arrested right now,” said the lawyer, who asked human rights organizations in and outside the country “to pay attention to what is happening in Bolivia, because an activist was implicated in these events under the pretext of prosecuting the false coup d’état of June 26.”
Neither the government nor the prosecution have yet provided any information on Hamdan’s arrest.
The activist joins the 24 people under investigation for the military uprising led by the now dismissed Army commander Juan José Zuñiga.
On June 26, a group of soldiers commanded by Zuñiga took over the presidential headquarters in La Paz for a few hours, which was described by the government of Luis Arce as an “attempted coup d’état.”
After Arce relieved the military high command on the same day, Zuñiga and the troops retreated, the former commander was arrested and is now being held in preventive detention in the center of the country.
During his arrest, Zuñiga accused Arce of having ordered the military action to “boost his popularity.”
The opposition and former President Evo Morales (2006-2019), who is estranged from the Executive, separately agreed that it was a “self-coup”, while the Arce Government insists that it was a “failed coup d’état”.
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2024-07-09 21:06:34
