16 years have passed since the arbitrary detention of Judge María Lourdes Afiuni, who was subjected to an unfair trial by express order of then-President Hugo Chávez. During her imprisonment, she was subjected to torture and sexual violence that remain unpunished due to cover-up by the authorities of the justice system. Her case was not considered in the amnesty law and she remains in a kind of civil death, without documents, without bank accounts, censored from speaking to the media and unable to leave the country. Those in power in Venezuela have announced a consultation to reform the criminal justice system. There can be no second phase of Secretary Rubio’s plan, nor can there be a consultation when the biggest victim of criminal justice remains censored, disqualified and unfree. AlertaVenezuela joins the call of Judge Afiuni’s brother and lawyer to put an end to 16 years of arbitrariness against her. Their full freedom is an essential condition to move towards the announced judicial reform.
