The Maduro administration assures in a statement that the ICC Prosecutor’s Office “did not show the slightest commitment or spirit of cooperation” with the signed agreements.
The administration of Nicolás Maduro accuses the Prosecutor’s Office of the International Criminal Court (ICC) of instrumentalizing justice for political purposes, after the closure of the office in Caracas, announced this Monday by the deputy prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Mame Mandiaye Niang.
At the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute, The Hague, Netherlands, the ICC official maintained that the decision to close the office was due to a lack of “real progress” with the Venezuelan authorities on complementarity.
In a statement, the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry questions the Prosecutor’s statements.
«Venezuela has linked itself in good faith with the ICC Prosecutor’s Office in a process that, clearly, does not fit into the assumptions provided for in the Rome Statute, but that aims to satisfy the anti-Venezuela agenda promoted by hegemonic centers. It is very obvious that crimes against humanity have not been committed in our country and we have demonstrated this in all instances of a process instrumentalized for geopolitical purposes,” he points out.
In the text, the Maduro administration assures that despite the intentions shown by the ICC, it “committed to mechanisms of positive complementarity, aimed at strengthening national capacities to ensure the effective administration of justice in our country…”.
*Read also: Closure of the ICC Prosecutor’s Office in Caracas: what implications does it have?
He explains that Venezuela and the Prosecutor’s Office signed two memoranda of understanding and a roadmap to agree on mechanisms in matters of justice and human rights where the support and technical assistance of the instance to national institutions was agreed.
However, the statement said, the ICC Prosecutor’s Office “did not show the slightest commitment or spirit of cooperation.”
In this sense, he affirms that the Prosecutor’s Office did not appoint personnel for the office nor formulate its contributions and recommendations to Venezuela’s initiatives.
In his statements before the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute, the ICC deputy prosecutor highlighted the challenge of achieving progress in complementarity mechanisms.
«After continued work, we have determined that real progress on complementarity remains a challenge. Therefore, and aware of the need to effectively manage our limited resources, we have decided to close our office in Caracas,” stated Mame Mandiaye Niang.
The ICC Prosecutor’s Office was inaugurated on April 22, 2024, as a result of a signed agreement with the administration of Nicolás Maduro in June 2023.
“In the immediate future, my office will accelerate its work to support genuine and significant efforts by Venezuela to ensure accountability for international crimes, while continuing the independent activities with which it has been entrusted. We owe it to those who have suffered and who continue to seek vindication of their right to justice,” said Karim Khan, the prosecutor in charge at the time.
*Journalism in Venezuela is carried out in a hostile environment for the press with dozens of legal instruments in place to punish the word, especially the laws “against hate”, “against fascism” and “against the blockade.” This content was written taking into consideration the threats and limits that, consequently, have been imposed on the dissemination of information from within the country.
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