German journalist Billy Six freed after four-months in Venezuela jail
- ‘Viva Venezuela!’ wrote parents of Berliner in Facebook post, in which they also accused Germany’s foreign ministry of not doing enough to help their son
A German freelance journalist jailed in Venezuela since November on espionage charges was released on Friday within weeks of two other reporters being expelled from the tumultuous South American nation, his parents and a human rights lawyer said.
A court in the capital Caracas ordered journalist Billy Six to be let go under the conditions that he report back every 15 days and not speak to media, lawyer Carlos Correa said.
Six, 31, will not be deported, but Correa also said he isn’t prevented from leaving if he chooses.
“We are overjoyed!” his parents Ute and Edward Six posted on a Facebook, also accusing Germany’s foreign ministry of not doing enough to help their son who spent 119 days in solitary confinement.
“Viva Venezuela!” they wrote. “Free Billy Six!”
Resident of a Berlin suburb, Six travelled the globe as an independent journalist for 12 years, publishing reports in right-wing outlets. His arrest generated little interest in mainstream German media, which relatives blame on his conservative affiliation.
In Venezuela, he documented the economic collapse and mass migration from the socialist country, landing in jail on espionage charges his family rejected as false.
This wasn’t Six’s first arrest amid turmoil. In 2013, he was jailed by the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for three months after illegally entering the country to report on its bloody war. He was eventually handed over unharmed to Russian diplomats in Damascus who had helped secure his release.