Venezuelan opposition says Maduro seeks to “delay” the process in the International Criminal Court

The Venezuelan opposition led by Juan Guaidó claimed that the illegitimate government of Nicolas Maduro is seeking to “delay” the beginning of the formal investigation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) against him for the alleged crimes against humanity attributed to him.

“We want to alert the international community about an operation by the Nicolás Maduro dictatorship to delay the start of a formal investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity committed against hundreds of Venezuelans, by simulating a reform of the justice system, ”the opposition said in a statement.

The text released by the opposition Julio Borges, Guaidó’s representative abroad, pointed out that the Government’s “maneuver” is due to the reports of the “Prosecutor’s Office of the ICC and the Fact-Finding Mission of the Human Rights Council of the UN that emphasized the inexistence of an Independent Judicial Power capable of investigating violations against citizens ”.

For this reason, says the opposition, the Government “is simulating a kind of reform of the national justice system.”

Remember that, currently, in Venezuela they are “amending laws”, developing investigations that “pretend” to be independent “and have prosecuted low-level officials within the chain of command.”

“We must firmly warn that none of these processes goes to the jugular of the human rights problem. A palpable example that no real efforts have been made for change is that last week General Raúl Isaías Baduel died in the custody of the dictatorship, who was a victim of torture, isolation, arbitrary detention, denial of justice while still alive. added.

Baduel, who was Defense Minister of the late President Hugo Chávez (1999-2013), died in prison, according to the Prosecutor’s Office, due to a cardiorespiratory arrest due to COVID-19, but his family and lawyers reject this theory, and in the published text this Tuesday the opposition indicates that the circumstances of death are “doubtful.”

In this way, the opposition insists that “it should not be confused or acknowledge the regime’s advances” by the “decisions” it is taking, because – they consider – “they are a make-up of a serious human rights situation that worsens every day.”

“The international community must press for independent investigations to be carried out, to release all political prisoners and, especially, to advance the ICC process,” he concluded.

In February 2018, the ICC opened a preliminary examination of Venezuela 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 said on June 15, before leaving office, that there is “a reasonable basis” to believe that “crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court have been committed in Venezuela at least since 2017.”

The case continues in the hands of now prosecutor Karim Khan.