This Saturday, April 1, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khan, reported that the investigations and procedures presented by the Government of President Nicolás Maduro “do not sufficiently reflect the investigation planned by the Court” because there has been no No investigation of crimes against humanity.
“The investigations focus exclusively on low-ranking officers and apparent physical perpetrators, and the crimes were framed in terms of ‘isolated cases’ without any investigation into broader patterns of conduct or underlying policy,” the prosecutor says, reaffirming his request for to continue with the investigation.
Khan recalled that his office has concluded that there is a reasonable basis to believe that “at least from April 2017 onwards, thousands of perceived or real opponents of the Government of Venezuela were allegedly persecuted for political reasons, arrested and detained without adequate legal basis; hundreds were allegedly tortured; and more than 100 were allegedly subjected to forms of sexual violence, including rape.”
It also noted that “the multiple commission of these acts constitutes an attack against the civilian population in accordance with a State policy (…) systematic and that the policy of attacking this part of the population was, at least, encouraged or approved by the Government of Venezuela and carried out primarily by members of specific state security forces with the possible assistance of pro-government groups or individuals.”
Starting in April, the Pre-Trial Chamber will decide on the continuation of the process.
Source: We monitor
The ICC Prosecutor’s entry responds to the Venezuelan Government and refuses to postpone the investigation was first published in El Informador Venezuela.
