On 8 August 2025, lawyer and woman human rights defender Martha Lía Grajales was detained by police agents after participating in a solidarity activity in front of the office of the United Nations Human Rights Office in Caracas. Her whereabouts were only made public on 11 August 2025, through a public statement by the Public Prosecutor’s Office on social media. The woman human rights defender has been assigned a public lawyer despite requesting access to her own lawyer. To date, neither the woman human rights defender’s family nor her lawyers have been allowed to visit or contact her.
Martha Lía Grajales is a lawyer and woman human rights defender from Venezuela. She is a member of the Surgentes collective, a human rights organisation supporting marginalised communities, dedicated to research, technical and political assistance and advocacy for public policies that promote human rights and the democratisation of society. Through these initiatives, it has promoted capacity building and the organisation of marginalized groups, ensuring that they are informed about their rights and the relevant mechanisms available to enforce them.
On 5 August 2025, woman human rights defender Martha Lía Grajales took part of a vigil in front of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice in Venezuela. The vigil was organised to bring attention to those who were unfairly detained and accused of terrorism for participating in protests in the context of the presidential elections of Venezuela in July 2024. She was accompanied by other human rights defenders and sixty mothers of those detained. During the vigil, a group of unknown armed people approached the group, attacked them, and stole their belongings, including the Martha’s ID card. The woman human rights defender tried to file a report on the attacks and thefts before the Public Prosecutor and the Scientific, Penal and Criminal Investigation Corps, but both institutions refused to process it.
Another solidarity activity was organized few days after, on 8 August 2025. A group of mothers and human rights defenders, including Martha Lía Grajales, stood in front of the United Nations Human Rights Office in Caracas in protest against the events of 5 August. After the activity was over, the woman human rights defender was stopped at a police checkpoint and was asked to show her identity card. The chekpoint was set up a few metres from the protest site by the Criminal Investigations Division (DIP) attached to the Bolivarian National Police (PNB). While the woman human rights defender explained that her identity card had been stolen during the attack on 5 August, a grey van without number plates approached the scene and forced her to get into the vehicle.
The partner of the woman human rights defender and representatives of human rights organisation PROVEA visited five detention centres attached to the Criminal Investigations Division (DIP) of the PNB in Caracas without obtaining any information about Martha Lía Grajales’s legal situation or whereabouts. On 9 August 2025, the president of the Criminal Court Circuit of the Caracas Metropolitan Area refused to hear a habeas corpus petition in favour of Martha Lía Grajales.
Finally, on 11 August 2025, the Public Prosecutor’s Office posted a statement on Instagram confirming the detention of Martha Lía Grajales “after an arrest warrant was issued against her for actions against Venezuelan institutions and the peace of the Republic”. The statement also included that the woman human rights defender is currently in pre-trial detention for alleged crimes of “incitement to hatred, conspiracy with a foreign government, and association”.
Venezuela: Arbitrary detention of woman rights lawyer Martha Lía Grajales
