Annual Report 2025
08

Seeking Justice

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2025 marked the in-person reunion of the SOS-Torture Litigators’ Groups established in Africa, the Americas, and Asia in 2019, as well as the first in-person meeting of the Litigators’ Group, created in 2024, for Europe and Central Asia. Over the years, these groups have become vital spaces for solidarity and collective action, enabling coordinated legal strategies, peer support, and joint advocacy. These collaborations translated into concrete legal outcomes during the year.

In 2025, three individuals, survivors of torture, who had been arbitrarily deprived of their liberty in Mexico for more than a decade were released. In all three cases, OMCT was actively engaged, supporting legal efforts and sustained advocacy in close collaboration with national partners and survivor networks.

Keren Ordoñez was released on 17 April 2025 after more than nine years of arbitrary detention for a crime she did not commit. The OMCT supported efforts for her release through letters to judicial authorities and public advocacy. This outcome was achieved thanks to the sustained work of Centro Prodh, a member of the SOS‑Torture Network.

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In the image: Keren Ordoñez, human rights defender from Mexico, who was unjustly detained for nine years. © Centro Prodh.

Andrew Armando Córdova regained his freedom on 23 December 2025 after over 17 years of deprivation of liberty. OMCT supported his case through amicus curiae briefs and continuous public advocacy. His wife, Abigail Martínez, an active member of the Mexican network of victims and survivors of torture, relentlessly advocated for Andrew’s release. Ms. Martínez has also actively collaborated with the OMCT, including during the launch of the Global Torture Index in Mexico

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In the image: the Mexican network of victims and survivors of torture. © CEPAD.

Osmán Iván Rubio Bonilla, a Honduran national who had been deprived of liberty for more than 14 years in Mexico, was released on 17 December 2025. His release resulted from joint efforts by Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human Rights Centre (Frayba), a member of the SOS-Torture Network, and OMCT, including the submission of a complaint to the UN Human Rights Committee violations of due process and acts of torture.

Barristers Niyongere and Amazohoun, supported by the SOS-Torture Litigators’ Group in Africa, secured landmark decisions on behalf of survivors from Burundi and Togo. The UN Committee Against Torture held Burundi responsible for the 2016 attack on Donatien Ndabigeze by National Intelligence Service agents, finding torture, inhuman treatment and failures to investigate, and calling for prosecutions and reparations amid persistent impunity. The ECOWAS Court of Justice condemned Togo twice for cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, ordering investigations and compensation for victims of abusive detention conditions and police brutality against a minor.

2025 marked a watershed moment for accountability with the International Criminal Court’s arrest and indictment of former President Duterte for thousands of extrajudicial killings committed during the "war on drugs". This breakthrough was fueled by years of relentless advocacy and documentation by the OMCT and its local partners. A pivotal factor was the 2020 report by the OMCT and CLRDC, which meticulously documented over 122 child victims, providing critical evidence to sustain international pressure and legal action.

In a strategic intervention before the Criminal Court of Thailand, the OMCT, in collaboration with the Omega Research Foundation, REDRESS, and the IRCT, submitted an amicus curiae brief challenging the use of leg shackles during court hearings. Filed following the sentencing of human rights lawyer Arnon Nampa, the brief argued that such restraints constitute cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment and fundamentally violate the presumption of innocence.

SANAD, OMCT's comprehensive direct assistance program, obtained the conviction of four police officers for assaulting three beneficiaries in different circumstances. Three of the officers were sentenced to prison terms ranging from one month to three years. Two of the victims were awarded substantial amounts of compensation for damages. The judgments must now be enforced/implemented.

SANAD also filed or followed up on nine criminal complaints, most of them concerning police assaults. SANAD appointed lawyers to assist the families of eight new victims in the criminal investigations opened following suspicious deaths in custody. SANAD has filed four compensation claims before the administrative court to hold the state liable and to obtain compensation for the families of victims in four cases of suspicious death in custody. Four SANAD beneficiaries were granted compensation decisions from the administrative court for individuals who were harassed by the police and/or placed under house arrest due to administrative control measures. Finally, SANAD has developed a new administrative litigation strategy to challenge detention conditions and lack of access to healthcare. Two beneficiaries in detention have already seen their conditions of detention improve as a result of these appeals.

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The Findings that Changed the Narrative on Venezuela - Interview with the President of the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela

Marta Valiñas is the chairperson of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela. The Mission investigates gross human rights violations to document abuses, identify patterns of repression, and promote truth, justice, and accountability, to prevent further violations and ensure reparations for victims. The Mission's mandate was renewed until October 2026. In this interview, Valiñas shares her perspectives about their findings and how these have impacted the narrative on the country.

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