WILLEMSTAD - Six Venezuelan men who were detained in Curaçao for trying to enter without papers were sent as tourists to Panama, but in reality, they were deported to Venezuela. That is according to Human Rights Defense Curacao.
In addition, they were transferred to the penitentiary and are incarcerated there. The same happened some time ago with women, who were held in the women's wing of the penitentiary, according to the human rights organization.
The six men started a hunger strike. “They demanded that they be allowed to freely await their trial for protection under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights and that they not be transferred to the regular prison,” says Ieteke Witteveen of HRDC.
“Deprivation of liberty of foreigners is the very last resort for people seeking protection. The months of detention, while everyone has already heard about the protection request, now has the character of a criminal sanction. That goes against local and international law.”