Shock: Human rights activist detained for military uprising in Bolivia

Human rights activist Fernando Hamdan was arrested this Sunday in Bolivia as a result of investigations into the military uprising that occurred on June 26 in the South American country. This was confirmed by the Ombudsman's Office, which, at the same time, denounced that its work to verify the situation of the arrested person had been obstructed.

Hamdan, who chairs the Ibero-American Commission on Human Rights for the Development of the Americas (CIDHPDA) in Bolivia, was arrested in the early hours of July 7 in the eastern region of Santa Cruz and transferred to La Paz “in the context of the events occurred on June 26,” the Ombudsman's Office said in a press release.

A few hours later, a defense commission approached the offices of the Special Force to Fight Crime (FELCC), in La Paz, “to ensure the right to the integrity of those deprived of liberty,” a work that began at noon. and that "he was hindered for several hours," indicated the Bolivian institution.

After 7:00 p.m. in Bolivia, “contact was achieved with the citizen and it was found that his physical integrity was not affected and he has two private lawyers,” they added.

The Ombudsman's Office flatly rejected in its document "the obstruction of the work it carries out in response to the defense of the human rights" of those deprived of liberty.

He also considered “imperative to remind the State that the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture has unrestricted access to any place of detention, including police cells and penitentiary centers throughout the country to ensure the state of health and integrity of the people” that are in those facilities “with prompt and timely actions” to “prevent possible acts of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and the rights of people arrested, apprehended, or subjected to any type of deprivation of liberty are respected,” or state custody.

Hamdan's lawyer, Jorge Valda, also reported the activist's arrest to the local media and indicated that they have not been informed of what crimes he is being accused of.

Valda added that the arrest is “alarming for human rights defenders,” since the detainee had been working in the defense of some “political prisoners” in Bolivia.

“It draws our attention greatly that he is detained precisely now,” said the lawyer and asked human rights organizations inside and outside the country “to pay attention to what is happening in Bolivia, because in order to persecute the false coup d'état of June 26” an activist was involved in these events.

Neither the government nor the Prosecutor's Office have so far provided any information about Hamdan's arrest. Meanwhile, the State Attorney General, César Siles, reported that those involved in these events for which the activist was supposedly arrested, could receive up to 25 years in prison.

The young man joins 24 others being investigated for the military uprising led by the now dismissed Army commander Juan José Zúñiga. A group of soldiers commanded by Zúñiga took over the presidential headquarters of La Paz for a few hours on June 26, which was described by the Government of Luis Arce as an "attempted coup d'état."

After the president relieved the military high command on the same day of the events, Zúñiga and the troops retreated, the former commander was arrested and is now being held preventively in the center of the country.

During his arrest, Zúñiga accused Arce of having ordered military action to “raise his popularity.”

The opposition and former President Evo Morales (2006-2019), who is distanced from the Executive, separately agreed that it was a “self-coup,” while the Arce Government insists that it was a “failed coup d'état.”