BERLIN — A German freelance reporter is being held in a Venezuelan prison on charges that include espionage, rebellion and violation of security zones, according to his family and a nongovernmental organization.

The journalist, Billy Six, 31, has been held in the Helicoide, a former shopping mall in Caracas that houses a detention center for Venezuela’s intelligence police, known as Sebin, since shortly after he was apprehended on the Paraguaná Peninsula, in the north of the country, according to a report from Espace Publico, a Venezuelan group that promotes human rights and free expression.

Mr. Six, who has been reporting on social unrest and the economic collapse of the country since last year, was apprehended shortly after doing reporting for a story about Venezuelans leaving for Colombia. He was accused in a hearing on Nov. 18 by a military court of talking to the rebel group FARC and of photographing inside a security zone close to President Nicolás Maduro, the country’s embattled leader, according to the report by Espace Publico.

“The outrageous allegations are a clear sign that Billy Six is in jail because of his journalistic activities,” said Christian Mihr, the head of the German chapter of Reporters Without Borders.