Working methodology regarding political prisoners

In order to consider a person deprived of their liberty as a political prisoner, Global Human Rights League uses as its frame of reference and methodology the definition of political prisoner adopted by the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights on September 5, 2012.

The steps we follow to evaluate each case are as follows:

1. We gather information about the person who has been detained.
2. We verify the information gathered through interviews with family members and close acquaintances, and we make contact with neighbors and people close to the alleged political prisoner. We conduct an analysis to review possible irregularities in the detention, and we reinforce the information with everything within our reach, including social media, press reports, and the legal observations of the organization's team of lawyers.
3. Together with the organization's human rights experts, we review the verification of the information gathered.

The frame of reference we use to assess possible political motivations and/or links behind detentions is as follows:

• Was there an abuse of power?
• Was criminal law misused?
• Was the state's administration of justice used as a tool of political persecution?

Any person deprived of their liberty must be considered a "political prisoner" when at least one of the following five criteria is met:

a) If the detention has been imposed in violation of one of the fundamental guarantees enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights and its Protocols, in particular freedom of thought, conscience and religion, freedom of expression and information, or freedom of assembly and association. b) If the detention has been imposed for purely political reasons, without connection to any crime. c) If, for political reasons, the length or conditions of the detention are clearly disproportionate to the offense for which the person has been found guilty or is considered a suspect. d) If, for political reasons, the person is detained in a discriminatory manner compared to other persons. e) If the detention is the result of proceedings that were clearly unfair, and this appears to be related to political motives on the part of the authorities.