Venezuela will request a review of the investigation decision of the International Criminal Court

The first vice president of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), Diosdado Cabello, said on Wednesday that his country will request a review of the decision of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to open an investigation in the South American nation for the allegations of crimes. against humanity.

“We will take care of our defense before the Criminal Court and before the Prosecutor’s Office. Starting because we have every right to have the decision reviewed because we believe that the preliminary phase has not been completed, the preliminary phase has not been closed. We have the example of Colombia, 17 years in the preliminary phase, ”he said.

During his program Con el Mazo Dando, the considered number two of Chavismo defended that Venezuela will be “favored” and “strengthened” from the process that the ICC initiated due to the complaints of human rights violations in the demonstrations that occurred in 2017 and mistreatment of opponents in some prisons.

“We neither owe it nor fear it; on the contrary, we want everything to be clarified and it will be clarified. We have no doubt in that regard, “he said.

The announcement of the ICC investigation in Venezuela came after a three-day visit by the chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, to the Caribbean country.

Khan appeared before the media together with President Nicolás Maduro to sign a memorandum explaining that the entity he directs “has concluded the preliminary examination of the situation in Venezuela” and that it has been “determined that an investigation should be opened to establish the true in accordance with the Rome Statute ”.

The document states that in the preliminary examination, prior to the formal opening of the investigation, “no suspect or any target has been identified”, the “investigation aims to determine the truth and whether or not there are reasons to press charges against someone ”.

In that sense, Cabello stressed that the principle of complementarity gives Venezuela the right of defense and that, he argued, gives “the possibility” of “opening the door for the world to understand” that the Caribbean country “has a system of justice with all abilities ”.

“It has passed to the recognition of the national jurisdiction, recognition of the investigations that are carried out in Venezuela, it has passed the end of the complementarity and collaboration between the Prosecutor’s Office of the International Criminal Court and the legitimate Government of Venezuela,” he said. (I)