Fernando Albán Salazar

Fernando Alberto Albán Salazar (, 1 October 1962 – 8 October 2018) was a Venezuelan–Colombian activist, lawyer, politician, and prominent figure within the Justice First opposition party. Albán served as a councilman of the Libertador Municipality of Caracas from 2012 until his death in office in 2018.

He died while he was detained in the headquarters of the Bolivarian Intelligence Service (SEBIN) in Plaza Venezuela, Caracas. Government officials initially reported his death as a suicide, but his friends, family, opposition political parties and Luis Almagro, Secretary General of the Organization of American States, argued that the councilor's death was murder.

In May 2021 Maduro's Attorney General, Tarek William Saab, admitted that Albán did not commit suicide as initially reported, but was killed by two SEBIN officers guarding him.

Personal life and early career Albán was born in Colombia, and relocated to Venezuela at the age of four. At the time of his death, he held citizenship in both countries. He was a devout Catholic,

Albán, a lawyer who specialized in labor law, received his law degree from Central University of Venezuela. He served as the national secretary of the Justice First trade union association.

Arrest Albán traveled to New York City for the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly, as part of a Justice First opposition delegation led by Julio Borges. Albán, Borges, and other members of the delegation had meetings with foreign dignitaries and other groups attending the assembly. The BBC reported that people close to him did not believe the official reason for arrest, instead saying that Albán was arrested for presenting information about human rights violations in Venezuela during the assembly.

Tarek William Saab, prosecutor general for the Maduro administration, later stated that Albán was arrested because of "evidence of 2,000 chats with conspiratorial themes". The number has also been reported as 200, and the chats were defined as conversations found on Albán's personal mobile phone.

Death

Albán was taken into SEBIN custody after his arrest, and was said after his death to be a suspect for the Caracas drone attack that had occurred two months earlier. He was seen by lawyer Joel García on Sunday after his arrest on Friday, but was reported dead on Monday, 8 October, 2018. The government states that he died by suicide when he jumped from a tenth-floor window either whilst he was waiting to be transferred (Interior Minister Néstor Reverol's account) or whilst going to the bathroom (Saab's account) According to anonymous sources that Julio Borges says are official, Albán was dead before he was thrown out of a window.

The narrative provided by the Maduro government was widely disputed. His family watched his funeral on video from their residence in New York. His devout Catholic faith is cited by friends, colleagues, and the conference of Catholic bishops of Venezuela as a reason to not believe the official story regarding his death, because he had too much respect for God to consider taking his own life. Luisa Ortega Díaz – the exiled Venezuelan Attorney General – announced her understanding that Albán died of suffocation while being tortured by a bag over his head during interrogation. Spain took similar actions, questioning the Venezuelan ambassador in Madrid.

Candlelight protests, public memorials and vigils were held in Caracas, particularly outside the SEBIN buildings, to denounce the murder.

Investigations The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights called for an investigation into Albán's death, and planned to include it in a wider investigation into human rights abuses in the country.

The opposition government in Venezuela asked that Colombia perform the investigation, so that it would be unbiased. García suggested that since Albán retained his Colombian citizenship after moving to Venezuela, Colombia could have more legal rights to pursue an investigation; the international ramifications of the event were heightened when Albán's place of birth and heritage (his parents and ancestors are all Colombian) were made public knowledge.

In May 2021, Maduro's Attorney General, Tarek William Saab, admitted that Albán did not commit suicide, as initially reported by government officials, but was killed. Saab announced that two SEBIN officers had arrest warrants issued against them for manslaughter and other related charges. In February 2022 a decision by the Court of Appeals of Caracas further reduced their sentence to two years and eight months. Zair Mundaray, former prosecutor of the Venezuelan Public Ministry, denounced that the officers "were always in the offices of the SEBIN in El Helicoide" and they never "set foot in a jail". Albán's family lawyer declared that the officers were only imprisoned for a few days and that they were charged for a crime of negligence, but never convicted for an intentional homicide, as if an accident had occurred.