Journalists' association calls for the release of Venezuelan activist detained for over a year

Caracas.- The National College of Journalists (CNP) of Venezuela requested this Sunday the release of Carlos Julio Rojas, political activist and journalist, who was arrested in April of last year and accused of allegedly being linked to a plan to assassinate President Nicolás Maduro. Through X, the union assured that Rojas is imprisoned in El Helicoide, the Caracas headquarters of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (Sebin), for "raising his voice in defense of citizens' rights".

Read more: College of Journalists demands that the mayor of Baní respect the right to property

With Rojas, the CNP counts 16 journalists arrested in Venezuela, the majority detained after the 2024 presidential elections, when a crisis erupted over the fraud allegations in the results that awarded Maduro's re-election. The NGO Justice, Encounter and Forgiveness (JEP) recently reported that Rojas "is facing a worrying deterioration in his state of health", according to -they said- his mother denounced. "The communicator's mother warned that Carlos Julio has blood pressure problems and that the conditions of his imprisonment are maintained in an environment of absolute opacity," the NGO indicated on X. In May, lawyer and human rights defender Alberto Maimone indicated that Rojas "has not had the right to private defense" nor "has he been guaranteed a trusted lawyer". Rojas was arrested on April 15 of last year and is accused, according to the Attorney General, Tarek William Saab, of the alleged crimes of association, terrorism, conspiracy, incitement to commit crimes and attempted assassination. Authorities indicate that the journalist was allegedly linked to a plan to assassinate Maduro during the registration of his candidacy, in March 2024, for the presidential elections of July 28 of last year. A count by the organization Foro Penal puts the number of political prisoners in Venezuela at 926, most of them arrested after the presidential elections. Both Maduro and Saab deny that there are people detained in the country for political reasons, but rather claim they committed crimes, a statement that is rejected by several NGOs and opposition leaders.