Tamara Sujú Roa is a Venezuelan criminal lawyer and human rights specialist.[1]
Tamara Sujú | |
|---|---|
 Tamara Sujú in 2018 | |
| Born | Caracas, Venezuela |
| Nationality | Venezuelan Spanish |
| Alma mater | Andrés Bello Catholic University |
Career
editTamara is the founder of several NGOs, including Fundación Nueva Conciencia Nacional, Damas en Blanco en Venezuela and Fundapresos, an aid and juridic assistance organization for commons prisoners that worked in Venezuela from 2002 to 2006.[2] She is currently the executive director of the human rights observatory Centro de Estudios para América Latina (CASLA), whose headquarters are in the Czech Republic, former international coordinator of Foro Penal and columnist with La Razón, an independent media outfit in Caracas.[3][4][5] She is a senior fellow at the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights.
A graduate of Andrés Bello Catholic University,[6] Sujú has been accused by government officials of committing destabilization acts and have pointed her out as the niece of General Oswaldo Sujú, involved in the 2002 coup d'état attempt. Nicolás Maduro, while being president of the National Assembly, declared that she "betrayed the fatherland" and that she was a part of the CIA.[7] In August 2014, Tamara requested political asylum in Prague after fearing "for her freedom and physical integrity"; the international protection status was granted by the government of the Czech Republic for a period of ten renewable years on 24 November.[2]
The lawyer has recompiled torture cases registered in Venezuela between 2002 and 2014 and formalized a demand against Nicolás Maduro in the International Criminal Court in July 2016.[8] On 5 April 2017, Sujú was invited by the InterAmerican Institute for democracy to testify about the torture cases in Venezuela and the country's expedient in the Court. Her expedient started with 65 incidents when presented before the Court, and was updated in May 2017.[9] On 14 September 2017, she testified about 289 cases of torture during the first audience of the Organization of American States (OAS) to analyze possible crimes against humanity in the country, including incidents during the 2017 Venezuelan protests and 192 cases of sexual torture.[10]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Batallé, Jordi (21 April 2015). "Tamara Sujú Roa, asilada política venezolana" (in European Spanish). RFI en español. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
- ^ a b "Tamara Suju recibe asilo político en la República Checa" (in European Spanish). El Universal. 25 November 2014. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
- ^ La La Razón website; accessed 4 February 2019.
- ^ "Tamara Suju Roa" (in European Spanish). El Huffington Post. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
- ^ "Tamara Sujú" (in European Spanish). Forum 2000. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
- ^ "El invitado de RFI - Tamara Sujú Roa, asilada política venezolana". RFI. 21 April 2015. Retrieved 6 February 2019.
- ^ ""Sentí temor por mi vida": Abogada Tamara Suju relata a NTN24 la persecución en su contra por defender a venezolanos" (in European Spanish). NTN24. 24 November 2014. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
- ^ Boon, Lisseth (7 July 2017). "¿Maduro en La Haya? el tortuoso camino para condenar crímenes de lesa humanidad" (in European Spanish). Runrun.es. Retrieved 14 July 2017.
- ^ "El desgarrador relato de Tamara Suju sobre las torturas a presos políticos en Venezuela" (in European Spanish). La Patilla. 10 April 2017. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
- ^ "Denunciaron 289 casos de tortura en la Organización de Estados Americanos". El Nacional (in European Spanish). 14 September 2017. Retrieved 16 September 2017.