Prosecutor General of Venezuela, Tarek William Saab. Credit: Pedro Mattey / AFP / Profimedia
Venezuela announced on Monday, an investigation into accusations of torture on 252 migrants that the US sent to an El Salvador prison, where they claim to have been beaten, sexually abused and fed with broken food, AFP reports.
In a press conference in Caracas, the general prosecutor Tarek William Saab presented photos and testimonies of some of the men, who said they would not escape alive. Many had bruises on the body and traces of rubber ball shoots.
Andry Hernandez Romero, a 32 -year -old cosmetician and one of the people placed in prison in the context of the repression launched by US President Donald Trump, said he had hardly survived the ordeal.
“I was going through torture, physical aggression, psychological aggression,” he said in a video presented by Saab.
“I was sexually abused,” the man added.
Saab said that the prosecutors are discussing with the migrants brought back to Venezuela.
Many said they were kept in “inhuman cells”, without sunlight and ventilation and were given broken food.
The men in question did not have access to lawyers, and many of them have not been seen by their families since the government of President Nayib Bukele has published photos with them reaching handcuffed prison.
Sent to El Salvador on the basis of laws used in times of war
According to AFP, men were accused without evidence in the US of being members of a band and were taken to El Salvador in March, where they were locked in the CECOT prison that Bukele had built to be held there dangerous gangsters.
Washington invoked laws used during the war to transport men into El Salvador without any court hearing.
The way they were treated has sparked an international wave of indignation.
Saab said that the Venezuean investigation will target the Bukele and other officials in El Salvador for alleged crimes against humanity. The Venezuelan official urged the International Criminal Court (CPI) and the UN Human Rights Council to act.
The men were released from El Salvador last Friday and were transported by plane home to Venezuela, in an exchange in which the Caracas released 10 Americans.
Venezuela itself is facing an investigation of the CPI in The Hague, with similar charges of torturing some prisoners and refusing to access legal representation. In the country's prisons there are hundreds of people for political reasons, according to the organization for the criminal human rights.
About 2,400 people were arrested, 28 killed and 200 injured in the actions to repress the protests that broke out in July 2024, he claimed the victory in the elections on which he is widely accused of fraudulent.
