CARACAS, Venezuela – A Venezuelan violinist who was banned from playing during street protests after he was arrested told reporters that while he was in custody he witnessed a sexual assault and was tortured.
Wuilly Arteaga said he witnessed guards sexually assault a young woman who was in custody. He said that before tying his hands, the guards took his violin, his shoes and other belongings. He said they covered his face and tortured him and others.
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"She was on top of me. I couldn't see because my face was covered, but I was able to feel the movements and I could hear the girl's screams," Arteaga said Thursday. "She was asking them to stop, 'That's enough!' I was telling her to remain calm."
Arteaga started to play his violin during protests against President Nicolas Maduro after 17-year-old violinist Armando Cañizales, who played with the Sinfónica Juvenil José Francisco del Castillo, was fatally shot in the neck while he was protesting May 3.
Photojournalists spotted Arteaga's peaceful dissent and a video of him crying after an officer damaged his violin went viral. The musician became a worldwide symbol of the cruelty of Maduro's methods to crush dissent.
Despite his notoriety, riot police officers attacked him again. They wounded him so badly he required hospitalization. When Arteaga braved the streets with his violin again, his face was still swollen from a prior attack. Riot police officers arrested him July 27.
Arteaga said someone hit his head with a helmet, a guard set his hair on fire and several insulted him. He said the guards didn't allow him to change his clothes or to communicate with his attorney. They questioned him several times in front of a camera.
"They started torturing us again ... I received a hit so strong that I stopped hearing from my right ear ... I suffered an internal hemorrhage," Arteaga said.
After the traumatic 20 days and his conditional release from jail, prosecutors referred to his violin as an inflammatory object and a judge banned him from participating in any protest and ordered him to report to court every eight days.
"There are many prisoners," Arteaga said. "There are many young innocent people imprisoned; many young people in there who have given their freedom to Venezuela and we can't forget about them. I promised them when I was there that I was not going to rest until they were all free."