A/HRC/45/CRP.11 defence, they were also denied access to his criminal case file. 1442 Concerns about Mr. Jaimes’ disappearance circulated widely in the press and on social media.1443 741. On 15 June 2018, the tribunal constituted a special commission to visit Mr. Jaimes and verify his location and conditions in El Helicoide, and to appoint his defence counsel. However, according to Mr. Jaimes’ defence, the judge failed to arrive and the appointment could not be made.1444 742. That night, a guard lent Mr. Jaimes a phone to call his sister. He told her he was in El Helicoide, that he had been badly beaten, and was suffering what he believed to be a broken rib, severe bruising, fainting spells and asthma attacks. 1445 743. On 26 June 2018, the prosecutor presented formal charges against Mr. Jaimes, confirming the pre-qualified charges. As Mr. Jaimes had been unable to appoint counsel, his lawyers were denied access to his criminal file. The presiding judge accepted the prosecutor’s accusation, and ordered Mr. Jaimes to remain in preventive custody. 1446 744. The formal accusation presented by the prosecution included limited information, including the arrest record, search record, interviews with the SEBIN officers who conducted the arrest and search, and reference to technical reports carried out on Mr. Jaimes’ devices and bank accounts, without revealing their contents or the specific relation of those contents to the charges. 745. The prosecution asserted that Mr. Jaimes had interfered with aircraft and airport radio communications, and that the information he had published about the President’s movements was illicitly obtained and unlawfully published. 1447 The Mission confirmed that the information Mr. Jaimes published about the routes of the presidential aircrafts was publicly available and that the scanner, erroneously identified as a radio, was not an information transmitter. 746. The Government claimed to the Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions that information presented by the prosecutor indicated Mr. Jaimes had used technological tools to interfere with aircraft and airport radio communications. 1448 1442 1443 1444 1445 1446 1447 1448 160 Statement by Mr. Jaimes’ defence counsel from Espacio Público, available at: https://twitter.com/espaciopublico/status/1004845897149288449. See, for example, Human Rights Watch, “Held Incommunicado for Tweeting in Venezuela”, 11 June 2018, https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/06/11/held-incommunicado-tweeting-venezuela; Radio Caracas, “En vivo por rcr.tv #YAsíNosVa con Nehomar Hernández y Daniel Lara”, 12 June 2018, https://www.pscp.tv/w/1YqJDQPovkLxV; Efecto Cocuyo, “Creador de @AereoMeteo tiene 25 días desaparecido tras ser presentado en tribunales”, 6 June 2018, https://efectococuyo.com/sucesos/creador-de-aereometeo-tiene-25-dias-desaparecido-tras-serpresentado-en-tribunales/. Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions, Opinión núm. 39/2019, relativa a Pedro Jaimes Criollo (República Bolivariana de Venezuela), A/HRC/WGAD/2019/39, 19 September 2019, available at: https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Detention/Opinions/Session85/A_HRC_WGAD_2019_39. pdf Interview conducted by El Diario, 22 November 2019, verified by and on file with the Mission; Espacio Público, “Tras un mes desaparecido, Pedro Jaimes se comunicó con su familia”, 16 June 2018, http://espaciopublico.ong/tras-un-mes-desaparecido-pedro-jaimes-se-comunico-con-su-familia/. Prosecutor’s request for continued pre-trial detention indicated in Formal Accusation, MP-16303-18, p. 12, on file with the Mission. Formal Accusation, MP-16303-18, pp. 9-11, on file with the Mission. Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions, No. 39/2019, A/HRC/WGAD/2019/39, 19 September 2019, available at: https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Detention/Opinions/Session85/A_HRC_WGAD_2019_39. pdf.