FDLP Denounces Torture and Sexual Aggression Against the Political Prisoner Omar Campoverde
We hereby share an unofficial translation of a statement by the Defense Front of the People’s Struggle in Ecuador published on May 23.
POLITICAL PRISONER OMAR CAMPOVERDE DENOUNCES TORTURE AND SEXUAL ASSAULT AT EL ENCUENTRO PRISON
The Defense Front of the People’s Struggle in Ecuador joins in denouncing, rejecting, and fighting against the extremely grave human rights violations publicly reported by political prisoner Omar Campoverde during his oral appeal hearing, regarding the torture to which he has been cruelly subjected inside the so-called “El Encuentro” Prison.
Comrade Omar Campoverde, in addition to having been convicted without any legal grounds to justify his imprisonment and having been transferred from the Latacunga prison to the “El Encuentro” prison – a true concentration and torture camp – has been subjected to a regime of brutality and human degradation that includes:
– Solitary confinement
– Denial of communication with his lawyers
– Prohibition of family visits
– Deprivation of food
– Constant torture by military personnel
– Sexual violence perpetrated by two members of the Ecuadorian Army, who, according to reports, have already been identified and legally charged.
The allegations made by comrade Omar Campoverde reveal the brutal, repressive, and prison-like regime imposed on the country by the fascist Noboa government, which is supported by US imperialism and criminal Zionism. This regime has only been able to sustain itself through militarization, terror, humiliation, impunity, and collaboration with opportunism, where human dignity has been trampled upon to such abject extremes as are seen only in Israeli prisons against the Palestinian people.
Through this kind of repression and torture, the collaborationist regime seeks not only to break the comrade’s firm revolutionary stance; it also aims to send a message of punishment and intimidation against any manifestation of struggle directed against the government and the old bureaucratic-big landlord State.
The assaults, torture, and, in particular, the sexual violence inflicted against Omar also reveal the extent of the decay within the Armed Forces and other repressive apparatuses, which have already demonstrated their harmful nature in the kidnapping and murder of the “four children of the Malvinas” and the crimes committed against protesters during the peasant/popular uprisings; the extent of corruption by drug trafficking and criminal gangs; and their actions, shielded by cover-ups, institutional silence, and impunity.
“No evil lasts a hundred years.” Sooner or later, Noboa and his henchmen will answer before the masses for the crimes they have been committing against poor peasants, against the rebelling masses, and against brutally tortured prisoners, as in Omar’s case.
From the Defense Front of the People’s Struggle in Ecuador, we express our militant and combative solidarity with Omar Campoverde, his family, and his defense team. We fully support the complaint filed with the Prosecutor’s Office regarding the crimes of torture and sexual abuse, and we demand that urgent measures be taken for protection, investigation, and punishment.
Furthermore, we demand:
1. Immediate protection for Omar Campoverde. Urgent and effective guarantees for his life, his physical, psychological, and sexual integrity, as well as the immediate cessation of all forms of torture, harassment, solitary confinement, and mistreatment. Immediate transfer to a pretrial detention center that guarantees his safety while the malicious legal process to which he was subjected is resolved.
2. An end to isolation and incommunicado detention. Unrestricted access to his lawyers, communication with his family, and full respect for his basic rights as a person deprived of liberty.
3. An immediate investigation into the complaint filed by Omar. The Prosecutor’s Office must act swiftly and without being subject to political or military influence; the necessary investigative steps must be taken immediately; and those directly and indirectly responsible for this heinous act must be identified, prosecuted, and punished.
4. Urgent intervention by human rights organizations. We demand the immediate presence and monitoring of national and international human rights organizations, given the evident risk faced by the complainant.
5. Demilitarization of the prison system. The military presence in prisons has fueled corruption, arms and drug trafficking, and the expansion of a web of corruption.
6. Closure of the so-called ”el Encuentro” prison. It is clear that this prison operates as a true space of punishment, isolation, and degradation, incompatible with human dignity and the most basic principles of law.
We issue a militant call to popular, social, labor, peasant, student, neighborhood, women’s, and human rights organizations – and to all sectors committed to the people’s struggles and solidarity with grassroots activists – to break the silence, to denounce the barbarity of the regime and its institutionalized henchmen in the Armed Forces, to speak out and remain vigilant so that the perpetrators are subjected not only to legal judgment but also to the relentless verdict of the masses, who will neither forgive nor forget.
We extend this call to progressive, revolutionary, and anti-imperialist organizations around the world to launch an international campaign denouncing the criminal Noboa regime for committing grave human rights violations and crimes against humanity, and to carry out a campaign of solidarity with Omar Campoverde, demanding immediate guarantees for his life and his physical and psychological integrity, and calling for his immediate release from prison.
NO TO TORTURE OR IMPUNITY!
ENOUGH OF MILITARIZATION AND PRISON BARBARITY!
IMMEDIATE PROTECTION FOR OMAR CAMPOVERDE!
INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION AND PUNISHMENT FOR THOSE RESPONSIBLE!
CLOSE EL ENCUENTRO PRISON!
FREEDOM AND JUSTICE FOR OMAR CAMPOVERDE!
DON’T FORGIVE NOR FORGET THE PEOPLE’S EXECUTIONERS!
