On September 7, Mrs. Yedanny Navarro Guilarte was arrested as she was leaving the house of the Jehovah's Witnesses temple due to a complaint from one of her neighbors, Mrs. Ester Gusamàn, who accused her of "softening the revolution" in the neighborhood where she lives. Ms. Yedanny was taken to the National Revolutionary Police (PNR) unit where she was interrogated by the first-degree State Security Department (DSE) officer, Lieutenant Neuri Duran Pajan, who wanted to know why the victim was softening her neighbors against the leaders of the revolution. The detainee told the officer that at no time was spoken ill of anyone to any neighbor because her religion forbids her to talk about politics, and that what was happening was that a neighbor was upset with her for speaking to people about the word of God. Furthermore, she explained that her words had been misinterpreted when she referred to a certain verse in the Bible that referred to the government of God and not to any other government. The official told her that she had to be careful with the way she expressed herself because she could get into trouble, since "revolutionaries could get in her way at any time.The officer also explained to her that this was because she was talking to people about things that people do not understand and therefore could misunderstand, and that she should try to stay out of trouble because Jehovah's Witnesses were not well liked by revolutionaries. The victim was released after spending almost 6 hours in detention.
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Rights Abused
- Civil and Political Rights
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Personal freedom
Freedom of opinion and expression
Right to seek, receive and impart information
Freedom of religion
Right not to be arbitrarily detained
- Perpetrator
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Police
Committees for the Defence of the Revolution
DVBC/183