A/HRC/45/CRP.11 police.1891 Some of the GNB vehicles were armoured. An unarmed BELL 429 SEBIN helicopter flew overhead.1892 Another television report showed three snipers on roofs of houses.1893 Security forces were armed with various kinds of weapons, including AK-103 assault rifles (some with laser sights) and FN Browning GP-35 pistols.1894 1069. The Public Prosecutor’s Office also confirmed that it deployed 18 prosecutors from different units (vehicles, homicides, criminal, ordinary, criminal responsibility and juveniles) during the operation.1895 1070. Witness accounts described security forces entering houses without judicial orders, which are required under Venezuelan law for searches in private areas,1896 questioning individuals and stealing valuables from houses. One female witness said they came in: “Without an order! Without a paper! Without a prosecutor! Without anything! […] It was chaos”. She also recounted that if “you did not go out quickly, they would kick [the door] down”.1897 1071. Another woman witnessed officials taking the men from their homes: “they took all the men out and made them kneel outside. It was like they were going to take all the men and leave the women here”.1898 Photos published in the press show dozens of young men kneeling with their shirts over their heads in the custody of security forces. 1899 1072. Another woman denounced police abuse during the operation: “There were people beaten, the houses were looted, there was a lot of police abuse, televisions were broken, computers and money we had at home were stolen”. 1900 She stated that security forces threatened women in the neighbourhood with obscene language and told them they would demolish their houses if they did not stay inside.1901 1073. Witnesses also alleged that the security forces attempted to plant evidence to make it appear that a confrontation or a crime took place. One young man said, “I was with my wife […] they sent her outside, they closed the door” […]. “They put a gun in my hand, so that they could justify that it was a confrontation […] ‘We are going to kill you if you don’t tell us where this and the other is, because you are also a thug from here’”. 1902 1074. According to a statement made by a female witness to a Venezuelan citizen security expert that the Mission consulted, none of the victims was a gang leader: “They, more than anything, come looking for him [El Coqui]. [But] they take the first thing they see in the middle, which has nothing to do with him.”1903 A CICPC officer was also quoted saying, “The gang leaders were not there. El Coqui […] had left the night before because they called 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 Ibid. Ibid., minute 0:35. YouTube Video, TVS Pueblo, Operación de Liberación y Protección del Pueblo #Cota905, 14 July 2015, available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3ffeqCKJRI. Ibid., minute 0:35. YouTube Video, 800 News, Fueron presentados ante Fiscalía 19 imputados por caso Cota 905, 15 July 2015, available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-T4qLzuhis. 2012 Organic Criminal Procedure Code, art. 197. Statement made by a victim and witness of the operation in an interview with a Venezuelan citizen security expert No. 3, on file with the Mission. Statement made by a victim and witness in an interview with a Venezuelan citizen security expert No. 6, on file with the Mission. Informe 21, Nuevos detalles: estos fueron los abatidos en La Cota 905, 15 July 2015, available at: https://informe21.com/actualidad/nuevos-detalles-estos-fueron-los-abatidos-en-la-cota-905. YouTube Video, PROVEA, Habitantes Cota 905 denuncian atropellos policiales durante operativo liberación del pueblo, minute 0:18, 18 July 2015, available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06HHMN3c86Q. Ibid., minute 1:48. Ibid. Statement made by a victim and witness of the operation in an interview with a Venezuelan citizen security expert (Interview No. 3), on file with the Mission. 211