International Criminal Court opens investigation against Venezuela for crimes against humanity

NS International Criminal Court (TPI) He will open an official investigation against Venezuela by Possible crimes against humanity during the crackdown on anti-government demonstrations in 2017This Wednesday (3) the Attorney General Karim Khan reported in a meeting with the President of the Republic Nicolas Maduro in Caracas.

The ICC opened a preliminary review in 2018, over which Khan will have to decide whether to shelve or move to the next step.

“I am asking everyone, as we enter this new phase, to give my office the space to do its work,” the attorney general commented.

“After this assessment and this discussion, the public prosecutor has decided to move to the next stage in the search for the truth. We respect his decision as a state, despite telling him that we do not share it,” Maduro said.

The two signed a cooperation agreement for this next step at the Miraflores Palace, the seat of the Venezuelan presidency.

Khan who He arrived in Venezuela on Sunday for a three-day visitHe thanked him for the “constructive dialogue” in the meetings he had with Maduro, his deputy Delcy Rodriguez, Attorney General Tarek William Saab and representatives of the Supreme Court.

The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court insisted that “I am fully aware of the divisions that exist in Venezuela, the existing political division. We are not politicians, we are guided by the principle of legality and the rule of law.”

International Criminal Court in The Hague confirms indictment against Venezuelan President

After the Netherlands-based international court opened a preliminary investigation in 2018, Khan’s predecessor, Fatou Bensouda, said there was “reasonable grounds” to believe crimes against humanity had been committed in the South American country. In the video above, relive the complaint filed in 2017.

“We are frank and direct in saying that the so-called stage of preliminary analysis did not allow the Venezuelan state to access the documents and content that was evaluated. As I told respected lawyer Karim Khan, we were blind at this stage,” Maduro criticized.

Khan, who is due to return to Venezuela at an unspecified date, said he had met “national and international organizations” before and during his visit.

In the days when the attorney general was in Venezuela, relatives of victims of alleged human rights abuses asked to be “heard” in small street protests.

On Wednesday, about 20 people protested in front of the headquarters of the Venezuelan intelligence service Sebin, where dissidents are being held.