page_title: Leopoldo López
section_title: Initial detention
hierarchical_section_title: Leopoldo López / Imprisonment / Initial detention
caption_attribution_description: English: Opposition leader Leopoldo López apprehension's order. Leopoldo was accused of many crimes, including "Public intimidation, public property damages, serious injuries and qualified intentional homicide executed by futile and ignoble motives." Español: Orden de aprehensión del líder opositor Leopoldo López. Leopoldo fue acusado de varios delitos, incluyendo "Intimidación pública, daños a la propiedad pública, lesiones graves y homicidio intencional calificado ejecutado por motivos fútiles e innobles."
context_page_description: Leopoldo Eduardo López Mendoza is a Venezuelan politician and former political prisoner. He co-founded the political party Primero Justicia in 2000 with Henrique Capriles Radonski and Julio Borges and was elected mayor of the Chacao Municipality of Caracas in the regional elections held in July 2000. He is the National Coordinator of another political party, Voluntad Popular, a Socialist International affiliated party, which he founded in 2009. López has received multiple awards from NGOs and other organizations for his activism.
  Administrative sanctions were imposed on López by Venezuela's Comptroller's Office in 2004, disqualifying him from holding public office for six years, following allegations of nepotism and misappropriation of funds. Opposition groups in Venezuela criticized these charges as fabricated. López supporters say he was never charged with a crime, tried, or allowed to rebut the allegations; he sued Venezuela and his case was reviewed by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which issued a unanimous ruling in his favor. That ruling was ignored by Venezuelan officials.
  During the crisis in Venezuela, he called for protests in February 2014.
context_section_description: López was denied bail and imprisoned at the Ramo Verde military prison outside of Caracas. While in prison, his family visited him every week, only being allowed to stay for a few hours and deliver lunch. They had to undergo strict searches by guards. López grew a beard and began learning how to play the cuatro. López, a devout Catholic, was not allowed to attend mass or have a priest visit but has been allowed to have an hour of exercise outside each day.
  In July 2014, his wife stated that his visitation rights had been revoked and that he was subjected to psychological torture including isolation. It was also reported that prison guards would throw feces against López's jail cell. Chilean lawyer and secretary of a mission of Socialist International, José Antonio Viera-Gallo, stated that in the case of López, Socialist International "confirmed human rights violations against a political leader" giving examples of when López and others trying to communicate with their families, authorities sound loud sirens preventing communication.
  On 13 February 2015, armed masked men believed to be military used blowtorches to cut through the bars of Lopez and former mayor Daniel Ceballos' prison cells. In May 2015 López announced he was beginning a hunger strike to protest his detention and the mismanagement of the Maduro government. He has urged other jailed opposition to join, with Daniel Ceballos also participating in the hunger strike. Both López and Ceballos ceased the hunger strike after one of their demands, a date set for the 2015 Venezuelan parliamentary elections, were set to take place on 6 December 2015.
caption: Detention order against Leopoldo López
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