The second complaint regarding torture was first filed on the 3rd of July 2020
Lawyer to embattled Venezuelan diplomat, Alex Saab, has lodged criminal complaints against Cape Verde police officers, at the office of Cape Verde’s Attorney General.
The complaints, which borders on three issues— perjury, torture, and concealment of evidence — had earlier been raised on various occasions between July and September 2020 but the issues have yet to be addressed by the General Prosecutor.
The first of three complaints, which was on perjury, was first lodged on the 1st of July 2020. In the complaint, Saab’s defence team noted that their client was detained before INTERPOL issued a Red Alert against him at 21:37 Cape Verde time but he was detained at 21:30 (9:30 p.m.) on 12th June 2020, few minutes before the time alert was issued.
Saab’s lawyer, José Manuel Pinto, wrote, "We respectfully request, once again, that the criminal complaint be accepted and that those responsible be prosecuted in accordance with the laws of Cape Verde.”
The second complaint regarding torture was first filed on the 3rd of July 2020,
"The Complainant has reported to his lawyers that he was physically tortured on 12th June 2020, when he was arrested on the island of Sal and placed in a plastic bag, and after this, the Claimants beat him with wet towels on his head for several hours.
"The purpose of this torture was to extract information and statements from the Complainant against the Government of Venezuela. In addition, the Claimants opened the Complainant's bag and appropriated $20,000 (twenty thousand US dollars).
"The Claimants forced the Complainant to sign a declaration and make false statements against President Nicolas Maduro and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
"The Claimants asked for money to stop the torture and threatened to kill
the Complainant and the Claimants intended to extort from him the declaration of acceptance of the extradition, and asked him for additional money," Saab’s defence team argued.
According to Pinto, despite all these incidents, which have been reported to the authorities of the Regional Prison of Sal, there was no investigation, neither was any information given on the status of the investigation.
"Therefore, we also ask you to order the instruction on the first set of facts and consider as carried out the complaint about the investigation of the incident that occurred on the night of the 29th and 30th August 2020, considering that such a flagrant incident has not yet been properly investigated."
Pertaining to the third complaint, which was first lodged on the 21st June 2021, Saab's team filed against the illegal concealment of evidence by the Police.
According to the handwritten letter, Saab was arrested on 12th June 2020, at 21:30 (9:30 p.m.) at the Amílcar Cabral International Airport, when he was carrying out a humanitarian mission from the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to the Islamic Republic of Iran, in his capacity as Special Envoy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
Saab, at the time of the arrest, was carrying a bag containing documents and valuables that was seized by the Claimants, his lawyer said.
"There were letters in envelopes in the Complainant's bag addressed to senior political officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran sent by senior political officials of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela along with other valuables.
"These letters, which have been brought to the attention of the Claimant, prove the Complainant's diplomatic status as Special Envoy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
"The suitcase and documents were only returned after the Complainant was transferred from the island of São Vicente to the island of Sal and handed over to one of the Complainant's lawyers. The Complainant's bag and documents were in the possession of the Complainants and the Judiciary Police from the day of the Complainant's arrest."
Pinto maintained that the criminal complaint files be investigated, and that those responsible be prosecuted under the laws of Cape Verde, and that the flagrant illegality relating to the Complainant must come to an end and be terminated.
SaharaReporters recall that Saab was arrested and detained in Cape Verde based on the request of the United States government during a stopover on his way to Iran over allegations of money laundering, a move the Venezuelan government faulted with claims that the businessman is its special envoy on a humanitarian mission.
The Venezuelan government claimed that before his arrest, Saab had been on a mission to get food and medical supplies in Iran, stopping over in Cape Verde where he was arrested by security operatives.
It could also be recalled that the Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECCJ) ruling on Alex Saab’s case, on 15 March, said the arrest of the diplomat was illegal, having been carried out without an appropriate Interpol Red Notice or arrest warrant.
It ordered Cape Verde to immediately release Saab, terminate extradition processes, and pay him $200,000 by way of compensation.
Aside from the ECOWAS judgement, the Geneva prosecutor’s office has also dropped the money laundering charges initially levelled against him.
The failure of Cape Verdean authorities to obey the ruling of the ECOWAS court by extraditing Saab to the US is not the first contempt for a court order by the authorities since his detention last year.
Saab was denied access to any member of his defence team despite three court rulings granting him the right to do so.