THE HAGUE, Netherlands 鈥� International prosecutors should resume investigating alleged crimes against humanity in Venezuela by security forces under because the country鈥檚 own probe has fallen short, the International Criminal Court ruled Tuesday.
The court had suspended an investigation into alleged wrongdoing including use of excessive force and torture 鈥� its first in Latin America 鈥� after Venezuela in April last year.
Seven months later, Prosecutor Karim Khan his investigation, saying that Venezuelan efforts toward delivering justice 鈥渞emain either insufficient in scope or have not yet had any concrete impact on potentially relevant proceedings.鈥�
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Judges agreed, and the court said in a statement Tuesday that Venezuela鈥檚 actions do 鈥渘ot sufficiently mirror the scope鈥� of the intended investigation, including by failing to focus on more than just low-level perpetrators.
Human Rights Watch welcomed the ruling.
鈥淲ith today鈥檚 decision, ICC judges have greenlighted the only credible pathway to justice for the victims of abuses by Nicol谩s Maduro鈥檚 government,鈥� Juanita Goebertus, the group鈥檚 Americas Director, said. 鈥淭he decision confirms that Venezuela is not acting to bring justice for the crimes likely to be within the ICC鈥檚 investigation. Impunity remains the norm."
The decision comes less than three weeks after Khan visited Venezuela and signed a memorandum of understanding with Maduro to establish an office for ICC prosecutors in the country.
The case was brought to the court in 2018 by member states Argentina, Canada, Colombia, Chile, Paraguay and Peru, who sought an investigation into alleged crimes in Venezuela since early 2014, the year after Maduro took office.
Khan鈥檚 predecessor, Fatou Bensouda, conducted a preliminary probe and in 2020 said she found a reasonable basis to conclude that crimes against humanity had been committed in Venezuela, since at least April 2017. Bensouda鈥檚 probe focused mainly on allegations of excessive force, arbitrary detention and torture by security forces during a crackdown on anti-government protests in 2017.
The ICC is a court of last resort that investigates alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity and other grave offenses when nations are unable, or unwilling, to do so.
Judges said that Venezuelan investigations appeared to be focused on low-level perpetrators. The ICC seeks to prosecute senior commanders deemed responsible for crimes.
The judges also noted that 鈥淰enezuela appears to have taken limited investigative steps and that, in many cases, there appear to be periods of unexplained investigative inactivity,鈥� the court said in its statement.
They also said that the domestic investigations in Venezuela did not appear to sufficiently cover parts of the international probe 鈥� including allegations of persecution and sexual crimes.
