The Preliminary Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) said on Tuesday (7) that Venezuela “is not investigating or has not investigated criminal acts that could constitute crimes against humanity”, during a public hearing held in The Hague.
This is a session brought about by an appeal from the Government of Nicolás Maduro against the decision of the Preliminary Chamber of the ICC, which authorized in June the resumption of investigations seeking to determine whether crimes against humanity occurred in the country under the mandate of Hugo’s successor. Chavez.
A second hearing will be held this Wednesday (8).
During the first session, the member of the ICC Victims’ Defense Office, Paolina Massidda, assured that the victims made it very clear that the South American country’s institutions “do not and will not investigate the crimes of their family and friends”.
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A CNN contacted the Venezuelan Public Ministry to find out its reaction without having received a response so far.
On previous occasions, and specifically following a visit to Caracas in June by ICC prosecutor Karim Khan, Attorney General Tarek William Saab said that the Venezuelan State has “the intention of delivering justice.”
On April 21, 2022, Khan notified the Pre-Trial Chamber that he had received a request from Venezuela to postpone investigations in favor of actions taken by local authorities.
But eight months later, in November 2022, the ICC prosecutor asked the Chamber to resume the investigation opened a year ago as he considered that the authorities’ efforts were “insufficient in scope”.
The long path of investigating possible crimes against humanity committed during Maduro’s government began in 2018. The then ICC prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, announced that she would open an investigation.
Furthermore, that same year, in September, Bensouda received a referral from six countries that are part of the Rome Statute: Argentina, Canada, Colombia, Chile, Paraguay and Peru to support the investigation.
At that time, these countries were under center or center-right governments and were part of the Lima Group, which within the Organization of American States questioned the legitimacy of the Maduro government and recognized Juan Guaidó, then president of the National Assembly, as interim president of the country.
Source: CNN Brasil
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