Amnesty International urged new ICC prosecutor to make swift decision on Venezuela

“In Venezuela, Amnesty International has documented Extrajudicial executions, arbitrary detentions and deaths caused by the excessive use of force by agents of the government or pro-government armed civilian groups, many of which, according to the Office of the Prosecutor, constitute crimes against humanity, and We were awaiting a decision from your Office to complete its preliminary review by today. We urge you to make a decision quickly and not to continue subjecting victims to the uncertainty of endless preliminary examination. “, said the secretary general of the prestigious NGO, Agnès Callamard, this Wednesday in an open letter, at the end of the International Criminal Court (ICC) postpone the announcement of the Maduro regime’s investigation into crimes against humanity.

British lawyer Karim Khan took over the office of the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Wednesday and took on a long list of cases inherited from his predecessor, Fatou Bensouda, including tensions with African countries or several cases under preliminary examination, such as Bolivia and Venezuela, the admissibility of cases on Colombia, the Philippines or Guinea, or investigations into crimes against the Rohingyas in Myanmar, crimes in Darfur (Sudan), the Central African Republic, Libya, Kenya or Mali.

Amnesty International’s letter to Khan underscored the importance of speeding up investigations into many of these pending cases and placed particular emphasis on the situation of the Chavista regime in Venezuela.

Similarly, Venezuelan opponent Julio Borges spoke on Wednesday., a close associate of the incumbent President Juan Guaidó, indicating that he hopes that the new prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) “accelerates” the process and opens a formal investigation into the crimes against humanity committed in the country of Caribbean.

“ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda Ends Her Mandate Without Communicating Results of Preliminary Examination on the crimes against humanity committed in Venezuela and caused by the dictatorship of Maduro, ”said the representative of the Guaidó government abroad on Twitter, and He warned that Bensouda has confirmed that there is sufficient evidence to believe that crimes against humanity have been committed in Venezuela.

“This is why we hope that the new prosecutor Karim Khan – who began his term today – will speed up the process and open a formal investigation into Maduro’s crimes. Today the victims of the criminal state ruled by Maduro demand justice, truth, reparation and guarantees of non-repetition “Borges added.

Bensouda, who resigned as chief prosecutor of the ICC after nine years of service, has said in recent days that she intends to call for a formal investigation into crimes committed by the forces of the Nicolás Maduro regime. in Venezuela., but which was hampered at the last minute after Caracas asked the judges to take control of the case. His decision is awaited to be able to move forward on the subject.

“With regard to Venezuela, I was committed to reaching a final determination, to the extent possible, for the remainder of my term.. Perhaps in anticipation of this outcome, as you will have seen in the media, an ICC chamber received a dossier from the government of Venezuela asking it to exercise judicial review over the conduct of our preliminary examination. This was presented in confidence, so I cannot refer to it in detail, although the fact of their presentation was publicly mentioned by the Venezuelan authorities themselves, ”Bensouda wrote in a farewell letter.

The ICC opened in February 2018 a preliminary examination of Venezuela for alleged abuses of its security forces, both in the protests that have taken place since April 2017 and in some prisons where opponents have been mistreated.

Bensouda announced in November last year that there are “reasonable grounds to believe” that crimes against humanity have been committed in Venezuela. In the last report made public, he referred to possible crimes of torture, sexual violence and persecution for political reasons, the victims of which would be members of the opposition.

With information from EFE

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