The ICC announces that it continues the investigation for alleged crimes against humanity in Venezuela

( Spanish) — Karim Khan, prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, announced this Saturday that the investigation of the Venezuela case will continue considering that there is a reasonable basis to believe that crimes against humanity have been committed in the actions of security forces in the midst of anti-government protests. and against dissident voices since 2014.

The Prosecutor’s Office dismissed in a statement the arguments that the Venezuelan Government put forward in a document on February 28, where it urged to discard the investigation, and made it clear that its challenge of inadmissibility under the principle of complementarity has no merit.

The Venezuelan government, through a statement, described the accusations against it as fallacies and denies that crimes against humanity have occurred in the country and at the same time they say they have presented information that in their opinion evidences what they consider to have been the political nature of the process initiated. by the ICC. They emphasize in the text that the Venezuelan justice system “works permanently to guarantee justice in the country.”

He specified that, in the opinion of the Prosecutor’s Office, the affirmation of the Venezuelan Government that crimes were not committed in support of a state policy, is unfounded and insufficient evidence of this was not presented. The report also noted that the authorities have not shown that they have conducted domestic investigations or prosecutions that sufficiently reflect the scope of the investigation envisioned by the Court.

contacted the Venezuelan Attorney General’s Office to find out their reaction to the ICC document, without having received a response so far.

The government of the questioned president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, has always rejected the accusations, although in March it signed a cooperation agreement for the organization to open an office in Caracas. asked the Ministry for Communication and Information for a reaction to Khan’s announcement, but has so far received no response.

The document establishes that the Venezuelan Government has not done justice, nor has it made reparation to the victims. In the same way, 2014 is established as the starting point of the investigation. It is expected that at the end of April there will be another pronouncement by the ICC on the status of the process.

After a visit to Venezuela in November 2021, Khan announced that an investigation would be opened into the situation in the country, since the ICC had determined that there were indications that, at least since April 2017, crimes against humanity and human rights violations.

The ICC had reported that cases of opponents who were allegedly persecuted for political reasons and in some cases arrested are under review. They also review cases of alleged torture and alleged excesses in actions against protesters by security forces.