A young Ukrainian has been missing in Venezuela for a year

His name is Yevhenii Petrovich Trush. He is 20 years old, fled the war in Ukraine, was studying chemistry at university, and has been forcibly disappeared since Venezuelan authorities detained him on October 20, 2024.

Yevhenii is missing, but not forgotten: the family waiting for him in Venezuela is tirelessly searching for him and demanding his release without delay. He had arrived in the country hoping to start a new life with his Venezuelan partner, after being forced to leave his home due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. His partner’s mother and family welcomed him as one of their own and waited for him with open arms. A year later, they are still waiting for him.

As is increasingly the case in Venezuela — a country where crimes against humanity have been committed since at least 2014 — authorities arbitrarily detain those they believe may serve a political purpose and then deny their detention, or conceal their fate and whereabouts. This is what international human rights law defines as a “forced disappearance,” and it can last for days, weeks, or, as in Yevhenii’s case, a year or more.

Yevhenii suffers from Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). On the day of his disappearance, he was attempting to seek asylum at the Atanasio Girardot International Bridge on the border with Colombia when he was intercepted by agents from the Administrative Service of Identification, Migration, and Foreigners (SAIME) and agents from the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence (DGCIM). Nothing has been heard from him since.

According to his mother-in-law, since November 2, 2024, the family has been searching for Yevhenii at prisons where people are typically detained for political reasons, such as the headquarters of the DGCIM located in Boleíta (Caracas), the headquarters of the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (SEBIN), and other national prisons, including Rodeo I. All of these facilities have denied holding Yevhenii. None of the legal remedies filed have yielded information about his fate and whereabouts.

Yevhenii is Ukrainian and, like almost all foreigners detained in Venezuela, is denied his right to consular assistance. Like him, there are citizens of Colombia, such as Danner Barajas; of France, like Camilo Castro; and Spaniards, like José María Basoa and Andrés Martínez, among other nationalities, who have been victims of forced disappearance, arbitrary detention, denial of consular assistance, and countless other human rights violations.

Yevhenii is in a particularly vulnerable situation. Ukraine is resisting a Russian invasion and, furthermore, lacks consular representation in Venezuela. Although his mother-in-law contacted other embassies in the country, she received no support.

Neither Yevhenii nor the other detained foreigners are casualties or isolated victims, but rather are among the thousands of victims — the vast majority of whom are Venezuelan — of the Maduro government’s policy of repression, which seeks to silence dissent, even using foreigners as diplomatic leverage.

While Yevhenii has been subjected to enforced disappearance for a year, more than 830 people are unjustly detained in the country, according to the Venezuelan NGO Foro Penal. This is a huge figure that cannot be normalized or relativized. The human rights crisis in the country not only persists but is worsening.

Crimes against humanity continue to be committed in Venezuela today. Meanwhile, the eyes of the world are on the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, anxiously awaiting decisive steps toward justice for the victims.

States with the ability to do so must redouble their efforts to protect detainees and secure their immediate release. The time to take action for them is today, not tomorrow. Yevhenii should be home now.

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