ICC Prosecutor’s Office considers investigating post-election complaints

The Prosecutor’s Office of the International Criminal Court (ICC) considers including in its investigations into Venezuela the complaints that came after the July 28 electionsin which Nicolás Maduro was announced as the winner but the opposition, with minutes in hand, declared a resounding victory for Edmundo González Urrutia, which sparked a wave of protests that led to repression, murders and thousands of arrests.

In its annual report, the ICC Prosecutor’s Office indicated that it received complaints about alleged crimes against humanity that have been evaluated in accordance with its standards. It was determined, the institution explained, that the records received are within the scope of the investigation being carried out.

Simultaneously, the office continued to collaborate with Venezuelan authorities regarding the Memorandums of Understanding that were agreed upon in 2021 and 2023. One of those agreements, last year, was created to facilitate collaboration between the international prosecutor’s office and the government of Nicolás Maduro . Recently, however, there have been critical statements from both sides.

This week, Karim Khan, ICC prosecutor, urged the Maduro government to release teenagers and children detained by state security agencies in post-election protests, as well as the rest of the political prisoners.

“After this year’s elections, I insisted in my communications with Venezuela and in public statements on the need to protect the rights of civilians, including children, who must be released if they are detained for political reasons or anyone who was peacefully protesting.” “, he expressed during his speech at the inaugural session of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute in The Hague.

In response, the Minister of the Interior and Justice, Diosdado Hairsaid that there are no children detained here: “We do not have children imprisoned here, Mr. Karim Khan. “They gave you wrong information and you are giving statements on wrong bases.”

The minister criticized that Khan “does not say anything” about Israel, which – he said – “murders” children in Palestine, while calling the ICC arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom the senior The court points out, along with former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as those most responsible for the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip.

Despite Cabello’s statements, the NGO Foro Penal points out that in the country, as of November 25 There were 1,903 political prisoners, of which 42 are teenagersone of them the student Mariana González, who was released after a letter was published in which she told her mother that she did not want to continue living.

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