The arrest and the charges

That same day, their brother Levin Salvatore De Grazia Suárez turned himself in to the DGCIM on learning that an arrest warrant existed against him. Earlier he had received a call from José Simón Elarba Haddad, a private individual with no public office, who told him he had to surrender and before which military official to do so.

From the arrest until they were brought before the judge, the brothers underwent severe interrogations. According to the document, those interrogations did not seek to clarify the facts they were accused of, which they did not know about, but to gather information about their assets: real estate, vehicles, aircraft, boats, companies and financial assets.

The brothers learned of the charges at the April 25 hearing. There were three. For each one, the statement of facts gives this response:

Even so, Judge Carlos Enrique Liendo ordered the detention of all three brothers, including Levin, who was neither an employee of nor held any position at Bancamiga or Compass Bank.

It was held in the early morning, before the Second Special Court of First Instance with control functions, which hears terrorism-related cases. According to the statement of facts, it is void for two reasons:

1. The constitutional deadline was exceeded. Article 44, paragraph 1, requires a detainee to be brought before a judge within 48 hours. The brothers were brought in more than 120 hours later.
2. The right to a defense was violated. They were prevented from appointing private lawyers and a public defender was imposed on them against their will.

The «Máxima II», April 19 to August 22, 2024

They were held at the DGCIM headquarters in Boleíta Norte, Caracas, with no access to lawyers. They never saw sunlight or went out to a yard, had no phone calls and had no contact with the outside world.

In his sworn statement, Carmelo describes isolation in a freezing cell that made him hallucinate, a light kept on 24 hours a day, minimal food rations with a loss of a kilo a day, and the threat of «the tomb», a punishment pit in the basement. When he asked for a lawyer, the guards answered: «Here your only lawyer is God». Annex 2

El Rodeo I (SESMAS), since August 22, 2024

They remain in DGCIM custody under a maximum-security regime. They spend about twenty-three hours a day in a two-square-meter cell and the full twenty-four on weekends.

Only one person at a time may visit them, their wife or their parents, through a glass partition and by telephones whose conversations are recorded and monitored.

Without a defense for almost two years

Carmelo's private lawyers were appointed on May 15, 2024 and filed fifteen requests to be sworn in before the judge. All were rejected, and he was left without a defense until April 20, 2026.