Deputy Roy Daza (PSUV/Nacional) assured that the ICC has been transformed “into an institution for purposes other than those for which it was created” due to its “improper actions.” Representative Ilenia Medina (PPT/Nacional) said that although the administration of Nicolás Maduro “gave space for them to open an office in Venezuela” the ICC Prosecutor’s Office “since last year they never bothered to send an official even though there have been four technical meetings”
The Venezuelan parliament approved in the first discussion a project to repeal the “Law approving the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court”, this after the ICC Prosecutor’s Office decided to withdraw the office installed in Caracas due to the lack of “real progress” in terms of complementarity by the administration of Nicolás Maduro.
The bill was presented in the ordinary session on Tuesday, December 2, by deputy Roy Daza (PSUV/Nacional), who assured that this was a “fundamental decision that the institution of the National Assembly and the institution of Venezuelan democracy will make.”
He Rome Statute governs the operation of the International Criminal Court and establishes its jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute individuals for the crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and aggression. The ICC Prosecutor’s Office opened an investigation in 2021 into alleged crimes against humanity committed in Venezuela since at least 2014, but at the moment there are no accusations or arrest warrants against any individual in particular.
The pro-government parliamentarian asserted that the ICC has been transformed “into an institution for purposes other than those for which it was created” due to its “inappropriate actions,” in a speech similar to the release of the administration of Nicolás Maduro.
«Now it turns out that the ICC has become an entity instrumentalized by the de facto, economic, political and cultural powers of imperialism. “That is what the International Criminal Court has submitted to at this time,” he said before the plenary session.
He also stated that the Venezuelan State has been characterized by the defense of human rights of citizens and “the main defender of human rights is called Nicolás Maduro. Don’t tell me stories. “We do know what the fight for human rights is.”
*Read also: Closure of the ICC Prosecutor’s Office in Caracas: what implications does it have?
According to the deputy, Venezuela is “under political and economic pressure” from the United States, while he said that “we are facing an act of supplanting Venezuelan legislation with international laws. They can apply that anywhere else, but here this Court is not going to supplant Venezuelan legislation because this is a free, sovereign and independent country.
Organizations such as Access to Justice have pointed out that if Venezuela withdraws from the Rome Statute, this decision “would not affect the ongoing investigation” for crimes against humanity.
Minutes earlier, the Venezuelan parliament had unanimously approved an agreement against the “legal colonialism” of the ICC, as well as the rejection of the “irresponsible failure to comply with the memoranda of cooperation and positive complementarity, by not sending officials or making contributions to the justice system.”
The ICC Prosecutor’s Office established two cooperation memorandums in 2021 and 2023 with the Maduro administration, based on a complementarity approach, that is, cooperation between the Court and the justice systems of each country so that the reported crimes are investigated and prosecuted. This implies that local laws adapt to international criminal law to prosecute the crimes established by the Rome Statute.
Representative Ilenia Medina (PPT/Nacional) presented the proposal and asserted that although Nicolás Maduro’s administration “gave space for them to open an office in Venezuela, since last year they never bothered to send an official even though there have been four technical meetings, various meetings.”
«Taking into account the moment that Venezuela is experiencing, threatened by the imperial government, what exactly… they report that they are going to close the office, but they never occupied it. Why is the Office closing at this time? Because they do not want to be witnesses of what could happen in Venezuela if it happens in Venezuela or if aggression becomes evident. “They are so cynical that they decide to close the office,” said Medina.
The parliamentarian accused the Prosecutor’s Office of the International Criminal Court of “evident noncompliance with the memorandums of understanding” and of being part of an “agenda of political instrumentalization” against the country.
He insisted that there is a “double standard and selectivity” on the part of the ICC “by focusing its attention on Venezuela on assumptions that do not fit into the Rome Statute in the face of the obvious genocide” that, he said, Israel is committing against the Palestinian people.
Likewise, he questioned that an “obvious silence” has been maintained regarding the Venezuela II preliminary examination, as the request made by the Maduro administration to investigate the alleged crimes against humanity against the Venezuelan population by the United States is known through the application of economic sanctions.
*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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