Geraldine Chacón

Geraldine Chacón (2018)

Geraldine Patricia Chacón Villarroel (born December 25, 1993 in Caracas , Venezuela ) is a Venezuelan lawyer with a focus on human rights . Amnesty International listed Chacón as a prisoner of conscience after her arrest in 2018 and requested her immediate release.

Life

Geraldine Chacón grew up in Caracas. She studied law in Caracas at the Universidad Metropolitana . Chacón worked as a litigation attorney and court assistant in a law firm and since 2016 as a legal advisor for the Central Bank of Venezuela.

Geraldine Chacón has been peacefully advocating human rights since she was 14 . She founded and coordinated the youth network of Amnesty International Venezuela at the University of Caracas . She worked as a volunteer for the Latin American NGO “ Un Techo para mi País ”, whose goal is to create safe housing. Chacón heads the NGO Fundación Embajadores Comunitarios , which supports disadvantaged young people in poor areas.

arrest

Geraldine Chacón was arrested on February 1, 2018 in the early hours of the morning by employees of the Bolivian National Intelligence Service (Servicio Bolivariano de Inteligencia Nacional, SEBIN) without an arrest warrant and under false accusations. She was taken to El Helicoide for interrogation and detained there. The order issued by the Venezuelan judiciary to release her was initially ignored by the prison authorities. Although the court acquitted her, the government authorities kept her in prison for four months. It was not until June 1, 2018 that she was finally released on the condition not to leave the country. You are in danger of being arrested at any time. Amnesty continues to view them as at risk.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} It's like 1984: Venezuela targets human rights defenders , The Guardian, January 4, 2019