A/HRC/36/31 suffers from mental illness and is legally incompetent. The Government did not address the allegations of intimidation and reprisals in its response. 29. Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of) 90. In the previous report of the Secretary-General, reference was made to the concerns expressed by independent experts with regard to the pattern of discrediting and intimidating human rights defenders in reprisal for their cooperation with the United Nations and regional bodies on human rights (A/HRC/33/19, paras.32-37). Similar allegations were received in the past. In a press briefing held on 19 May 2017, the spokesperson of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights referred to the case of Henrique Capriles, who was scheduled to meet the High Commissioner in New York on the same day but was prevented from leaving the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to do so. The High Commissioner expressed his hope that the incident was not a reprisal linked to the planned meeting with him in New York. The Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights addressed cases of reprisals with the Government in April 2017. 30. Multiple 91. On 21 October 2016, the Board of Trustees of the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture addressed a letter to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights with regard to concerns about the increasing number of instances in which State authorities resort to freezing the banking assets of human rights organizations working for victims of torture, in order to impede external funding, including from the Voluntary Fund. On 1 November 2016, the High Commissioner in his response expressed concern about the feedback provided on situations of reprisals against a number of the Fund’s grantees, and stated that he would share these observations with the Assistant Secretary-General. 32

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