A/HRC/45/CRP.11 accused Katherine Haringhton of pressuring him to implicate Mr. Ledezma, 922 while José Francisco Arocha claimed that SEBIN Director Gustavo González López had offered a conditional discharge in return for a statement accusing him.923 419. Mr. Ledezma remained either in detention or subject to house arrest during two years and nine months until the time he left the country in November 2017. Findings 420. Based on the facts above, the Mission has reasonable grounds to believe that Antonio Ledezma was victim of arbitrary detention. Several Caracas based SEBIN officers were involved. CASE 3: Gilber Caro 421. Gilber Caro is a Venezuelan politician and National Assembly member with the Voluntad Popular party. In 1994, Mr. Caro was sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment for a crime he denies having committed. He was on parole for the last ten years of the sentence. During that time, he took part in rehabilitation and social reintegration programmes. In 2014, he completed his sentence and was eligible for public office. In December 2015, he was elected alternate deputy to the National Assembly in the fourth electoral district of Miranda State.924 Arrest and detention in January 2017 422. On 11 January 2017, Mr. Caro was arrested by SEBIN in Carabobo State, together with Steyci Escalona, also Voluntad Popular Party member. They were arrested at around 11.20 a.m. at La Entrada toll road, a few kilometres before the municipality of Naguanagua, Carabobo state.925 The SEBIN officers did not produce a search or arrest warrant yet proceeded to search the vehicle.926 423. According to SEBIN’s investigation record of 11 January 2017, SEBIN officers obtained information that a number of vehicles were travelling towards Caracas with weapons of war (“diferentes materiales bélicos”) in a possible attempt to bring about a violent change of Government.927 424. The officers had set up a search and inspection operation at La Entrada toll station and stopped Mr. Caro’s vehicle. The investigation record indicates that Mr. Caro was nervous, initially refusing to leave his vehicle because he was a parliamentarian. The SEBIN officers also reported having found a rifle, cartridges and explosives in the car. Ms. Escalona later released a statement accusing SEBIN officers of planting these items to incriminate them. 928 Ms. Escalona confirmed this to the Mission (see her case below). 425. On the day of his arrest, Mr. Caro was taken to SEBIN headquarters in Naguanagua, Carabobo State and was then transferred to barracks belonging to FANB’s armoured brigade 922 923 924 925 926 927 928 See Report of the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States and the Panel of Independent International Experts on the Possible Commission of Crimes against Humanity in Venezuela, May 2018, p. 133. Mr. Arocha was detained on 2 May 2014 for allegedly financing terrorism and held in SEBIN La Tumba. He provided testimony at an OAS General Secretariat hearing. YouTube Video, OAS OEA Videos, Audiences to analyze possible crimes against humanity in Venezuela. September 15th, 2017, 15 September 2017, available at: 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKmTJ79prKE beginning at 58:00. See also, YouTube Video, VerTV Noticias, Declaración de militar bajo tortura sería la prueba contra Ledezma, 23 February 2015, available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8K4zBJif3Os See opinion of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Opinion 52/2017 (Venezuela), A/HRC/WGAD/2017/52, 23 October 2017, paragraph 5. Mission interviews with Mr. Caro’s sister and lawyer, on 21 and 19 May 2020 respectively. Mission interview with Ms. Escalona on 17 June 2020. Criminal Investigation record on file with the Mission. Ibid. See also, EuroNews, Venezuela, parla Steyci Escalona: “Così mi hanno arrestato e rinchiuso per 10 mesi”, 12 December 2017, available at: https://it.euronews.com/2017/12/12/venezuela-intervistasteyci-escalona-dissidente-prigioniera-politica 105