Lifestyle
Venezuelan couple accused of 'incitement to hatred' after uploading video on TikTok
The couple was accused by the regime of "inciting hatred" toward Venezuelan officials
April 18, 2022 3:15pm
Updated: April 20, 2022 12:09pm
The 4th Special Control Court of Venezuela, with jurisdiction in cases related to terrorism, ordered the arrest of Olga Lucila Mata de Gil and Florencio Gil Mata, who are accused by the regime of "inciting hatred" towards Venezuelan officials following a video posted on the social network TikTok.
The capture of Florencio Gil was carried out by agents attached to the Computer Crimes Division of the Scientific, Criminal and Criminalistic Investigations Corps (CICPC), informed the Attorney General, Tarek William Saab, through his Twitter account.
To arrest Olga Lucila, Judge José Mascimino Márquez García sent an official letter to the CICPC, adds Saab.
#DICTADA ORDEN DE APREHENSIÓN contra Olga Mata y Florencio Gil Mata: por el#Delito de *PROMOCIÓN AL ODIO acordado por el Tribunal… Dichos sujetos #instigaban al asesinato de personalidades públicas pic.twitter.com/WX3n7njb07
— Tarek William Saab (@TarekWiliamSaab) April 14, 2022
The couple will be prosecuted for "promotion or incitement to hatred," as they both "instigated the murder of public figures."
The NGO Espacio Público, which promotes and defends human rights, denounced the incident and stressed that recording a video and disseminating it on social networks is an act of freedom of expression.
"Recording and disseminating a video exercising your right to Freedom of Expression in its individual and social dimension, through humor, is not grounds for arrest nor is it a crime," the organization wrote on Twitter.
Grabar y difundir un video ejerciendo su derecho a la #LibertadDeExpresión en su dimensión individual y social, a través del humor, no es motivo de detención ni es delito #18abr pic.twitter.com/s5CW0fnfeo
— Espacio Público 🗣️ (@espaciopublico) April 18, 20
In 2020, Espacio Público recorded 33 arrests for online publications through various platforms, networks, and applications, mainly for publications through the instant messaging application WhatsApp, according to Efecto Cocuyo.
