International Criminal Court to open formal investigation into Venezuela for human rights violations

The International Criminal Court (ICC) open a formal investigation to Venezuela “To establish the truth in accordance with the Rome Statute, following the visit of the high court prosecutor, Karim Khan.

“The ICC prosecutor has completed the preliminary examination of the situation in Venezuela and has determined that an investigation should be opened to establish the truth in accordance with the Rome Statute”, reads a memorandum signed with Venezuela and read in front of Khan and to the president Nicolas Maduro.

The memorandum also states that Venezuela “It interprets that the requirements of article 53 of the Rome Statute are not met to justify the passage from the preliminary examination phase to the investigation phase”.

Said article states that “The prosecutor, after evaluating the information available to him, will initiate an investigation unless he determines that there is no reasonable basis to proceed under this (Rome) Statute”.

Faced with that situation, Venezuela “considers that the complaints should be investigated in the country by the existing national institutions created for this purpose “explains the memo.

The document signed today by the president Nicolas Maduro and the prosecutor of the CPI, Karim Khan, also states that in the preliminary phase “No suspect or target has been identified and that the purpose of the investigation is to determine the truth and whether or not there are grounds to file charges against any person.”

The parties agreed that Venezuela, as a national jurisdiction, “It will adopt all the necessary measures to ensure the effective administration of justice, in accordance with international standards, with the support and active commitment of the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court by virtue of the principle of complementarity.”

Too “Establish mechanisms to improve cooperation between the parties and facilitate the effective performance of the prosecutor’s mandate” on Venezuela.

In addition, they have chosen to “strive to agree on means and mechanisms that contribute effectively to the efforts of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to carry out authentic national actions ”.

Finally, they agreed “to work so that the principle of complementarity has an adequate and significant effect.”

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