In March 2001, when I was only 18, I was kidnapped and for almost four months I was kept forcibly bound and gagged, deprived of my freedom, subjected, threatened with death and held without any communication with my family.

I was sexually abused, burned with cigarettes, humiliated and beaten. I was forced to consume drugs. The man who kidnapped me called me his girlfriend. He pointed a gun at me and threatened to kill me. While he was torturing me, he told me that he had already murdered eight women – he showed me photographs of them. He was very sure that nothing could happen to him; he told me that he was protected by the authorities and knew important people, such as the attorney general, the vice-president, the president of the judiciary.

I did not want to die, and I held on to the thread of hope that one day the nightmare could end. I remembered the hugs and kisses from my beloved family when my sister and I left our beautiful village in Venezuela to travel to the country’s capital to start university.

I want to show survivors of gender violence that, when they feel like giving up, they should persevere Linda Loaiza

One day, when my torturer thought I was dead, he didn’t tie me up. Seventeen years later, I still find it hard to imagine how, in my weak state, I managed to escape. But I did. I was eventually rescued by the police and fire brigade. I later found out that day was 19 July 2001.

I spent months in hospital, getting treatment for my many injuries – I’ve undergone 15 operations, including facial reconstruction, and, among other things, have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. I lived in fear that my torturer would find and kill me or members of my family.

There are no words that can define this pain, the damage it causes. It is like living one’s own death, fighting against it, overcoming it, inheriting the consequences.

But when I sought justice, I found I had to escape another monster – the state, which sought to silence me, make me invisible and, if possible, disappear. Because of my torturer’s connections – his family are well known and have close ties to power - I had to fight to get my case heard. I went on hunger strike. Eventually, with the support of women’s rights NGOs and pressure from the media, my case went to court. But, at this first trial, after numerous delays, the female judge dismissed some of the key evidence, while other pieces were simply omitted by officials. I was slandered in court. My torturer was acquitted.

Six years later, after appealing for a new trial, he was convicted of the lesser crime of illegitimate deprivation of freedom and serious injuries, rather than sexual abuse and torture. That sentence did not give me justice. It was the triumph of a judicial power that saved the aggressor and left the sexual crimes and violence committed against me unpunished.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Linda Loaiza in front of the supreme court of justice in Caracas, where she went on hunger strike in 2004 in a bid to get the man who tortured her brought to justice. Photograph: Luis Acosta/AFP/Getty Images

But I wasn’t going to stop. After more fighting, I managed to get the case heard at the inter-American court of human rights, with the support of local and international NGOs like Cofavic and Cejil. I was always hopeful of a positive outcome, after all the struggle – and the ruling in my favour, announced last month, has been a great balm to so many injuries suffered.

On 16 November, the court issued a just and impartial sentence. It found the Venezuelan state guilty of negligence in the face of the torture and sexual violence against me, and for its inability to investigate the case.

It is a decision that sets a very important precedent for our country and Latin America. The inter-American system has made some historic judgments. In 2001, the inter-American commission on human rights held the Brazilian state responsible for omission, negligence and allowing domestic violence. My case is the next big step in this line.

This is the first time the court has made a ruling on sexual slavery and torture, and the first time that a case of gender-based violence against Venezuela has been decided.

The verdict is the result of the tenacity and tireless struggle of someone whose pain and injustice didn’t stop her. It’s an example to follow.

American court opens historic hearing into Venezuela rape and torture case Read more

I want to show survivors of gender violence who are defeated by the onslaught of a judicial system whose tentacles seek to drown them that, when they feel like giving up, they should persevere. By giving up they only give way to the great injustice that the patriarchal system has done to women.

Unfortunately, I do not believe the government will change its attitudes in light of the ruling. A great deal of objectivity and transparency is needed in government bodies for change to happen – attributes that are not present, since they are composed mostly of men. We need policies that guarantee real justice.

However, I think that civil society, social movements and NGOs have in this sentence a very valuable instrument that could be used in the countless cases of violence that are filed in the courts.

My struggle continues because, as long as the Venezuelan state does not comply with the sentence issued by the inter-American court, I have not achieved full justice. The state has yet to respond publicly.

I will continue to fight. All women deserve a world without gender violence, where perpetrators are properly punished.



• Since her ordeal, Linda Loaiza has studied law and supports female survivors of violence through the Linda Loaiza Foundation, which she founded in 2002