A/HRC/45/CRP.11
sanitary napkins. DGCIM prohibited visits from family members and her lawyers for the first
month of her detention.1727
992. Ms. Palacios was held in a basement cell with no windows, with nine other women
and only two bunkbeds. Guards kept bright white lights on at all hours preventing Ms.
Palacios and the women from sleeping. Air conditioning was kept at very low temperatures,
which increased Ms. Palacios’ asthma. On the first day of her detention, DGCIM officers
pushed Ms. Palacios to the ground, causing her to slide across the floor. 1728 They later
threatened to kill her, as well as all the detainees, in the event of a coup d’état. 1729 One day,
DGCIM officers lied to Ms. Palacios saying her grandmother had died and that her mother
blamed Ms. Palacios for the death and did not want see her again.1730
993. On 8 July 2019, DGCIM transferred Ms. Palacios and seven other women from the
DGCIM facilities in Boleíta to the National Feminine Orientation Institute (INOF), a
women’s prison in Miranda. Ms. Palacios’ family and lawyers were not informed and were
not aware of a judicial transfer order.1731 News circulated on social media that women had
been transferred to an unknown location.1732 On 10 July 2019, congressional representative
Adriana Pichardo denounced that the women’s whereabouts were still unknown. 1733 On 11
July 2019, lawyers located Ms. Palacios in INOF, in a poor psychological state. 1734
994. On 16 July 2019, Tarek William Saab announced on television that Ms. Palacios had
been detained because, “She incited, via social media, the assassination of the President and
any other Chavista”.1735 He went on to state that the “clarinettist has already been released”.
When Mr. Saab made that statement, Ms. Palacios had not yet been released.1736
995. Later that 16 July 2018, an email notification arrived at INOF (not through the bailiff
service as normally required) ordering Ms. Palacios’ release. 1737 Ms. Palacios was released
with non-custodial measures from INOF that night.1738 She was in a state of crisis, unable to
eat, drink or sleep. She began to fall into periodic states of severe depression. 1739
996. Ms. Palacios’ preliminary hearing has since been deferred many times. It had still not
occurred at the time of writing, having been scheduled for March 2020, but deferred again to
prevent the spread of Covid-19.1740
1727
1728
1729
1730
1731
1732
1733
1734
1735
1736
1737
1738
1739
1740
194
Mission Interview C2EE11 in June 2020; Mission Interview C2EE17 in June 2020.
Document C2EE19, on file with the Mission; Mission Interview C2EE17 in June 2020.
Mission Interview C2EE17 in June 2020; YouTube Video, NTN24, “Tenía miedo que la mataran
mientras dormía”: madre de la clarinetista presa en Venezuela, 15 July 2019, available at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=xElGmjyaI68&feature=emb_title.
Mission Interview C2EE17 in June 2020.
Mission Interview C2EE17 in June 2020; Mission Interview C2EE11 in June 2020.
https://twitter.com/TAMARA_SUJU/status/1148422038538739718;
https://twitter.com/TAMARA_SUJU/status/1148422039495032834;
https://twitter.com/SebastianaSin/status/1148587973291761664;
https://twitter.com/SebastianaSin/status/1148587992413593600.
El Nacional, Denuncian que presas de la Dgcim siguen desaparecidas, 10 July 2019, available at:
https://www.elnacional.com/venezuela/politica/denuncian-que-presas-dgcim-siguendesaparecidas_288040/; https://twitter.com/SebastianaSin/status/1149008491006353409.
Mission Interview C2EE11 in June 2020.
YouTube Video, Globovision, Tarek William Saab: Escoltas de Guaidó admitieron haber sustraído
fusiles 5/5, 17 June 2019, available athttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hK880BAqUUs&t=1s.
[Note: programme aired on 16 June 2019, video uploaded 17 June 2019].
Mission Interview C2EE17 in June 2020; Tweet from legal team on 16 July 2019 at 5 p.m. stating
Ms. Palacios had not been released https://twitter.com/alfredoromero/status/1151236383379533824.
Mission Interview C2EE17 in June 2020.
Fifth Control Court of the Caracas Metropolitan Area Circuit, Record No. 610-10, 16 July 2019, on
file with the Mission; INOF, Release Record, 16 July 2019, on file with the Mission; Video of her
release, published by her legal team on 16 July 2019,
https://twitter.com/alfredoromero/status/1151279066508595203.
Mission Interview C2EE17 in June 2020.
Mission Interview C2EE11 in June 2020.
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