Event Summary
On December 3, it was confirmed by the wife of Rafael Tudares — the son-in-law of Edmundo González Urrutia, the presidential candidate who ran against Nicolás Maduro in the July 2024 elections — that her husband had been sentenced to 30 years in prison. Tudares was arbitrarily detained on January 7 while taking his children to school. Since his arrest, none of his family members have been allowed to see him, nor do they know the exact detention center where he is being held, a situation his wife and relatives have repeatedly denounced since the day of his arrest.
His family has also repeatedly reported that the proceedings against him have failed to meet even the minimum guarantees of the right to defense. In June, it became known that a preliminary hearing in his case had been held with the presence of a public defender, since the authorities have not allowed the family to appoint a private attorney. Starting on December 1, information began circulating on social media claiming that Rafael Tudares had been sentenced to 30 years in prison — a fact later confirmed by his wife on December 3. His detention took place just days before Nicolás Maduro’s inauguration for a new presidential term, following the July 28, 2024 elections, whose results have been deemed fraudulent by various electoral observation missions and during Edmundo González Urrutia’s international tour.
Although the case is exceptional due to the victim’s connection to opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia, it reflects a pattern that has been recurring for several years and has worsened since the July 2024 presidential elections. The criminal justice system has been increasingly used as a tool of harassment, persecution, and pressure against key actors — whether human rights defenders, activists, political figures, or protesting citizens.
A few months ago, it was also reported that a citizen received a similar sentence for posting a message on instant-messaging applications in the context of the 2024 presidential election.