David Venegas was tortured, beaten and detained last Friday, the 13th of April, and presented eight hours later to the Police Unit that deals with drug crimes (UMAN, for Unidad Mixta de Atencion al Narcomenudeo), where he was forced to give a five hour long declaration the following day.
At UNAM he could have been granted freedom on bail --given the lack of proof to back up the accusations-- but the Ministerio Publico Federal decided against this.
On the morning of April 14th, he was transferred to the central Penitentiary of Ixcotel. Upon entering the prison, another arrest warrant was released for him: “Proceeding 157/2006, for damages to the Court of Justice of Oaxaca on the 25th November, 2006” (“El Excelsior,” March 11, 2006)
State and federal authorities charged him with "crimes against health" (selling drugs), sedition, burning buildings and disobedience. The reality is that David was detained while he was walking along the street with two other people.
Without presenting any arrest warrant, Ministerial Police beat him and took him away. When he was presented in front of the public ministry and the media, he was shown with drugs that were planted in his bag at the moment of his arrest.
According to David, they tried putting a large quantity of something into his bag. When the policemen saw that the packet they were planting didn't fit, they planted a smaller bag with white powder, apparently cocaine and heroin.
When they took pictures of him staged to convince the media that he was a drug dealer, David resisted and was badly beaten. He refused to hold the copies of the magazine “La Barrikada” on which they deposited the bag with the white powder (supposedly cocaine or heroine). David does not know where they were when these acts took place.
When he testified at the UMAN, David was presented with other smaller bags of white powder, with which they took pictures of him. Click HERE for more details.
Despite the number of the irregularities, he remains in prison. Today a number of mobilizations begin to protest the unfair arrest. On April 15th, marchers arrived at the doors of the penitentiary where David is held, demanding his freedom.
Jail authorities later offered him privileges as a political prisoner, but David has not accepted them, and demands nothing less than his freedom.
This dubious case that the state government of Oaxaca presents against compañero David Venegas Reyes is a clear attempt to vilify and slander David’s political work, as well as intimidate others who, with dignity, participate in the Oaxacan social movement.
