Maduro says he respects but does not share that the ICC opens an investigation phase to Venezuela

The president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, he assured this Wednesday that he respects, but does not share, the decision adopted by the Prosecutor’s Office of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to advance the case against the Caribbean country to the investigation phase.

“After this evaluation and this debate, the prosecutor (of the CPI) has decided to move on to the next phase to search for the truth. We respect your decision as a State, although we have told you that we do not share it “, said Mature in an appearance with the head of the Court’s Prosecutor’s Office, Karim Khan.

Mature argued that, before this decision was announced and during “The so-called preliminary examination phase (was) not allowed the Venezuelan State to know the documentation and the content that was evaluated.”

The Venezuelan president stressed that, for the investigation stage, an agreement was signed between Venezuela and the ICC Prosecutor’s Office that guarantees, “Firmly and definitively, cooperation, positive complementarity, mutual support, constructive dialogue to seek truth and justice.”

In the agreement signed between the prosecutor of the CPI and the Venezuelan State, it is determined “that an investigation should be opened to establish the truth in accordance with the Rome Statute.”

The memorandum also states that Venezuela “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.”

Mature celebrated the signing of this document and insisted that “Venezuela guarantees justice with institutions that are willing to improve, improve and advance ”.

“It may be the first of many documents to advance in the search for truth, justice and a profound constitutional improvement of Venezuelan institutions”, added.

The Venezuelan ruler told Khan who is the first interested in “knowing the truth.”

“In the name of God I ask for the truth, I ask for justice for our country”, He added.

In this sense, Mature He reiterated that, in the Caribbean country and “in all circumstances, the national constitution” has prevailed.

“Venezuela has won its right to peace, Mr. Prosecutor. If there were no justice, there would be no peace and in Venezuela there is a dynamic peace being built, there is a peace based on constitutional rights “, said the Venezuelan president.

The prosecutor ended a three-day visit to Caracas on Wednesday, as part of his work schedule on the preliminary examination carried out by the court to Venezuela for the complaints of crimes against humanity against the State, related to the 2017 demonstrations.

In February 2018, the process began in that court for alleged abuses by its security forces, both in the demonstrations that took place since April 2017 and in some prisons where opponents had been mistreated.

Former ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda announced before leaving office that there were “reasonable grounds to believe” that crimes against humanity have been committed in Venezuela, but the decision to open the investigation phase rested on the shoulders of Khan.

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