Washington, Sep 8 (EFE).- The Arcadia Foundation, based in Washington DC, announced on Sunday that it has submitted to the International Criminal Court (ICC) a formal request for the recusal of the chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, in a case against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
The petition alleges a conflict of interest that “compromises the impartiality of the prosecutor and puts at risk the integrity of the judicial process,” with implications for the credibility of the ICC.
The conflict of interest, according to the petition, is said to arise from Khan’s family relationship with Venkateswari Alagendra, Maduro’s defense attorney in the case.
The alleged link, according to the Arcadia Foundation, has raised “concerns about the impartiality required in the functions of the prosecutor,” as stipulated in the Rome Statute, the governing document of the International Criminal Court.
The NGO calls for Khan’s immediate recusal and removal from all proceedings related to the Venezuela I case, and requests the appointment of an independent prosecutor to ensure that the investigation and prosecution continue “without bias or appearance of conflict of interest.”
It also calls for an investigation into ICC ethics violations to determine whether the prosecutor’s failure to disclose his conflict of interest constitutes a violation of his ethical obligations and the ICC Code of Conduct.
And it proposes a public statement from the Court addressing “the conflict of interest” and outlining the steps taken to “preserve the integrity of the process in order to restore public confidence in its impartiality.”
The Washington Post reported on Friday that Venkateswari Alagendra, who has joined the team defending Maduro before the ICC, is Khan’s sister-in-law.
Arcadia, an organization that promotes and defends human rights, as it defines itself, points out that “the family relationship between the prosecutor and Alagendra impacts the independence and impartiality required by the ICC,” especially since this is a case that “involves Nicolás Maduro as the perpetrator of crimes against humanity.”
The organization maintains that the prosecutor “should have stepped aside from the case ‘motu proprio’ out of ethical conviction”: “The mere appearance of bias is enough to undermine the confidence of the public, victims and the international community” in the ICC, it asserts.
The formal request for Karim Khan’s recusal is signed by Robert Carmona-Borjas, co-founder of the organization, and José Vicente Carrasquero, its Director of Conflict Resolution Strategies.
