International Criminal Court authorizes reopening probe into Venezuela security forces
The International Criminal Court has ruled that international prosecutors should resume investigating alleged crimes against humanity in Venezuela by security forces under President Nicolás Maduro because the country’s own probe has fallen short
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.International prosecutors should resume investigating alleged crimes against humanity in Venezuela by security forces under President Nicolás Maduro because the country’s 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 — its first in Latin Americ a — after Venezuela asked to take over the case in April last year.
Seven months later, Prosecutor Karim Khan sought to re-open his investigation, saying that Venezuelan efforts toward delivering justice “remain either insufficient in scope or have not yet had any concrete impact on potentially relevant proceedings.”
Judges agreed, and the court said in a statement Tuesday that Venezuela’s actions do “not sufficiently mirror the scope” of the intended investigation, including by failing to focus on more than just low-level perpetrators.
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’s 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’s 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 “Venezuela appears to have taken limited investigative steps and that, in many cases, there appear to be periods of unexplained investigative inactivity,” 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 — including allegations of persecution and sexual crimes.