International Criminal Court
Maduro rejects the measure, announced by the new ICC prosecutor and which represents a new phase after almost four years of “preliminary examination” of the country’s situation
The International Criminal Court (ICC) will open a formal investigation against Venezuela for possible crimes against humanity during the repression of anti-government demonstrations in 2017, according to a memorandum signed this Wednesday by the prosecutor of that organization, Karim Khan, and President Nicolás Maduro.
Khan “has concluded the preliminary examination of the situation in Venezuela” and “has determined that an investigation should be opened,” says the document, in which the ICC and the Maduro government agree that the country “will adopt all necessary measures to ensure the effective administration of justice ”, with“ the support and active commitment ”of the ICC.
They also agreed to “establish mechanisms to improve cooperation between the parties,” according to the text read at a meeting between Khan and Maduro in the presidential palace of Miraflores, in Caracas.
The ICC, based in The Hague (Netherlands), opened a preliminary examination in 2018 for the actions of security personnel in protests that left a hundred dead a year earlier, a case that is now moving to the next phase. “I ask everyone, as we enter this new phase, to give my office the space to do its work,” Khan said. “We respect his decision as a State, although we have told him that we do not share it,” Maduro said.
Khan, who arrived in Venezuela on Sunday on a three-day visit, welcomed the “constructive dialogue” in meetings with Maduro, his vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, the attorney general, Tarek William Saab, and representatives of the Supreme Court.
“I am fully aware of the flaws that exist in Venezuela, the political division that exists. We are not politicians, we are guided by the principle of legality and the rule of law, ”insisted the ICC official.
Khan’s predecessor, Fatou Bensouda, said there was a “reasonable basis” to believe that crimes against humanity were committed and spoke of “inaction” by the Venezuelan authorities.
“There are differences of opinion about what happened in the so-called preliminary examination,” Maduro reacted. “The so-called preliminary examination phase did not allow the Venezuelan State to know the documentation and the content being evaluated.”
The Venezuelan justice has indicted some 150 police and military personnel for human rights violations since 2017, according to the Public Ministry. The opposition considers that these actions were taken solely to avoid the international judicial process.
Khan, who plans to return to Venezuela at a date to be defined, said he had met with “national and international organizations” before and during his visit. However, relatives of victims of alleged human rights violations asked in small street protests to be “heard.”
This Wednesday, a score of people protested in front of the headquarters of the intelligence service, where prisoners are being held. “We will not rest until there is justice,” Andreina Baduel, one of the daughters of General Raúl Baduel, a longtime ally of Hugo Chávez who broke with him and Maduro and who died last month in prison, told reporters. His brother, Josner Baduel, is also in custody on charges of conspiring against the government.
Juan Guaidó
Khan’s agenda did not include a meeting with the opposition leader Juan Guaidó, recognized president in charge of Venezuela for fifty countries. Guaidó celebrated the investigation: “He claims the right to obtain justice that has been denied in Venezuela for the victims and their families.”
“We ratify our fight for justice,” he added on Twitter, showing himself willing to “collaborate with all investigations that contribute to the determination of the truth and the establishment of criminal responsibilities.”
Rafael Uzcátegui, coordinator of the human rights defender NGO Provea, estimated in this social network that the ICC investigation “confirms that: Crimes against humanity did occur and (…) they have not been duly investigated until now. The wildly promoted official simulation strategy collapses. ‘
The memorandum signed by Khan and Maduro clarifies that “no suspect or target has yet been identified” and that it will be the investigation that will determine “whether or not there are grounds to file charges against any person.”
The ICC has another case of Venezuela in the preliminary stage, brought by the Maduro government, which in February 2020 asked to investigate the United States sanctions against the country as crimes against humanity. The institution has yet to decide whether to open a preliminary examination.
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