HRF presents Guadalupe Llori's case to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention

NEW YORK (September 4, 2008) --The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) filed a communication earlier this week with the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, pleading that it activate its urgent action procedure and send an appeal to the government of Ecuador for the immediate release of political prisoner Guadalupe Llori.

“After exhaustive public consultation with Rafael Correa’s government, with no positive results, we have decided to take Llori’s case to the UN. It is the first claim of this type that we send and it will not be the last, unless Llori’s rights are restored. We are not going to abandon the struggle for human rights in Ecuador,” said Javier El-Hage, HRF’s General Counsel.

According to the seventeen-page communication, Guadalupe Llori, governor of the province of Orellana in Ecuador, has been arbitrarily imprisoned since December 7, 2007, when police and military forces violently entered her house and arrested her without a warrant. She was charged with sabotage and terrorism. This occurred shortly after President Correa had referred to her as “Mama Lucha” —a slang term for a criminal figure in Ecuador— and she responded by calling him a “vulgar goon” and a “pathetic replica of Hugo Chávez.”

On November 29, 2007, days before Llori’s arrest, Correa issued a decree declaring a state of emergency in Orellana. He publicly accused Llori of being the leader of the Dayuma protests, which tried to boycott extensive oil production in the region in order to obtain the government’s commitment to complete a long-promised road and to decentralize allocation of oil revenue in favor of local governments. The decree was issued the same day that the recently elected Constituent Assembly, controlled by Correa’s party, shut down Ecuador’s opposition-led congress and granted itself full legislative powers.

“We trust the UN Working Group will recognize the arbitrary character of Llori’s detention an ask for her immediate release. She is still in jail after three court orders for her freedom and a general amnesty granted by the Constituent Assembly to more than 20 people arrested for the Dayuma protests. She was first charged with terrorism and sabotage, but the government has since filed other criminal charges against her to keep her in jail, violating her right to due process,” said El-Hage. “Llori’s is one of the most outrageous cases of political imprisonment worldwide and is an overt example of a Latin American government using its ever-growing power to stifle dissent within its borders,” concluded El-Hage.

HRF’s report to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention is the latest in a series of actions that the organization has undertaken since it began sponsoring Llori’s case earlier this year. The communication has an appendix listing every letter sent to President Correa by HRF and his unsatisfactory responses. Guadalupe Llori’s case has also been brought to the attention of the international community by other human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and the International Society for Human Rights, which have each endorsed similar claims for her liberation.

HRF is an international nonpartisan organization devoted to defending human rights in the Americas. It centers its work on the twin concepts of freedom of self-determination and freedom from tyranny. These ideals include the belief that all human beings have the rights to speak freely, to associate with those of like mind, and to leave and enter their countries. Individuals in a free society must be accorded equal treatment and due process under law, and must have the opportunity to participate in the governments of their countries; HRF’s ideals likewise find expression in the conviction that all human beings have the right to be free from arbitrary detainment or exile and from interference and coercion in matters of conscience. HRF’s International Council includes former prisoners of conscience Vladimir Bukovsky, Palden Gyatso, Armando Valladares, Ramón J. Velásquez, Elie Wiesel, and Harry Wu.

Contact: Javier El-Hage, Human Rights Foundation, (212) 246.8486, info@thehrf.org

Read HRF's communication to the Working Group of Arbitrary Detention here (Spanish only).

Read HRF's resolution request to the Working Group of Arbitrary Detention here (Spanish only).