The International Criminal Court (ICC) will open an office in Venezuela in the framework of an investigation for crimes against humanity in demonstrations against the government of President Nicolás Maduro.
“The parties have agreed (…) that my prosecutor’s office, the ICC prosecutor’s office, will be able to open an office here in Caracas. It is a very important, very significant step,” said Thursday, without setting deadlines, the prosecutor of that body, Karim Khan, in a joint statement with Maduro. “It’s not something for the gallery.”
Agreements like this will allow “deepen cooperation and accelerate our independent work in relation to the situation in Venezuela in accordance with my decision to open an investigation in November 2021,” his office said in a subsequent statement.
In November, the ICC announced a formal investigation into alleged crimes against humanity and signed a memorandum of understanding with the socialist government for the country to adopt “measures” to guarantee “the administration of justice.” In 2018, a preliminary examination had begun for the actions of the military and police in controlling protests that left a hundred dead a year earlier.
Khan, received by Maduro at the Miraflores presidential palace, said that it was also agreed that Venezuela will grant “multiple entry visas” to ICC officials.
“Venezuela is now going to have this office that is going to allow us a level of effective dialogue, in real time, more efficient, and a level of technical assistance that allows the November memorandum of understanding to follow its course,” he told his Maduro, whose government has always denied that human rights violations in the country go unpunished.
– “Reasonable basis” –
The ICC, based in The Hague (Holland), and the Venezuelan government have recognized differences of opinion.
“The Venezuelan government continues to believe that the conditions for an investigation have not been met,” insisted the statement released Thursday by the ICC after the statement by Khan, who has been in the country since Tuesday.
His predecessor, Fatou Bensouda, said there was a “reasonable basis” to believe that crimes against humanity were committed during the protests calling for Maduro’s removal from power and accused the Venezuelan authorities of “inaction” in the face of human rights violations.
Local justice has charged more than 150 security personnel with human rights violations since 2017, according to Attorney General Tarek William Saab, who has sent numerous reports to the ICC defending his management.
However, human rights organizations and the opposition maintain that these actions were taken late in order to avoid an international judicial process.
Relatives of victims have celebrated the opening of the CPI investigation.
Rafael Uzcátegui, coordinator of the human rights NGO Provea, estimated last November that the decision ratified that “crimes against humanity did occur” and that these “have not been properly investigated.”
The memorandum signed by Khan and Maduro in November 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 in Venezuela in the preliminary stage, filed by the Maduro government, which in February 2020 asked to investigate the US sanctions against the country as crimes against humanity.
