25 years old
Kennedy Fernando Tejeda Jiménez is a Venezuelan lawyer and human rights defender who was arbitrarily detained on August 2, 2024, while attempting to provide legal assistance to individuals arrested following the post-electoral protests in Venezuela. After receiving reports of arbitrary detentions in Bejuma, Carabobo state, he went to the Bolivarian National Guard (GNB) command in Montalbán to obtain information about the detainees and the dates of their judicial hearings. Instead of being allowed to carry out his professional work, he was arrested by security officials who reportedly accused him of being a “defender of guarimberos” and treated him as an alleged accomplice of the detainees. He was held for approximately a month in Valencia before being transferred to Tocorón prison, where he remained deprived of liberty for several months. Human rights organizations denounced his detention as retaliation for the legitimate exercise of his profession and his work in defense of fundamental rights. After nearly ten months of imprisonment, he was released under precautionary measures, although the criminal proceedings against him continued. His case has become a symbol of the criminalization of lawyers and human rights defenders who sought to assist victims of arbitrary detentions during the post-electoral repression in Venezuela.