Maduro’s government rejects the statements of the ICC prosecutor

The government of Nicolás Maduro rejected this Tuesday the speech of the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khanwho rebuked the Venezuelan State for the lack of “concrete implementation of laws and practices” to protect the rights of civilians, while warning that the high court’s investigations “are still ongoing and active.”

The Executive assured, through a releasethat the Venezuelan authorities “have informed” in a timely and comprehensive manner “to the ICC Prosecutor’s Office “about all the measures adopted in the internal order to advance in compliance with the commitments assumed in the Rome Statute, as well as those reached in the two memoranda of understanding signed by the parties.

After Khan urged Venezuela to reactivate the presence of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, whose team was expelled in February, the government responded that the return of the mission was already effective in November, and considered “Worrying” that the ICC prosecutor has not been kept up to date with the progress and the “exact state of the issues addressed in his misguided statements.”

ICC prosecutor calls for the release of political prisoners

In his speech at the annual meeting of ICC member countries, held this Monday, Prosecutor Khan insisted on “the need to protect the rights of civilians, including children, and to release those detained for political reasons, as does anyone who has peacefully protested.”

The government rejects that there are political prisoners in Venezuela and assures that those detained during the post-election protests have crimes, the majority for alleged acts of “terrorism.”

Despite the discrepancies, the Executive invited the ICC prosecutor to visit the country again and “continue to directly and constructively address the mutually acquired commitments in the field of positive complementarity.”

In March, the ICC dismissed the appeal against the resumption of the investigation opened in November 2021 for alleged crimes against humanity in Venezuela, whose government had resorted to the “principle of complementarity” – which must prevent investigations from overlapping – to request the closure of the case opened in the Prosecutor’s Office of the international court.

Khan recalled that “the ball is in Venezuela’s court” and warned that the path of complementarity is running out.”

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