Violations of Human Rights in Venezuela: The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court will open an office in Caracas

The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khan, said Thursday in Caracas that the body he leads will open an office in Venezuela, following an agreement reached with dictator Nicolás Maduro, with whom he met, privately, during this week, where he traveled to the Caribbean country after being invited by the Chavista regime.

Khan, whose visit was not announced to the media, appeared before the public television station VTV to report progress in the relationship with Venezuela, since last November it decided to open an investigation into the Caribbean country to assess whether crimes against humanity occurred, as denounced by the opposition and various non-governmental organizations.

“Over the past three days, the parties have agreed that my prosecutor's office, the ICC prosecutor's office, will be able to open an office here in Caracas. It is a very important step, a very significant step. It's not something for the gallery, it's something concrete that will allow me to fulfill my responsibilities under the Rome Statute and commit to the Venezuelan authorities here,” Khan said in a statement with Maduro at the presidential palace in Caracas.

During the meetings with Maduro and other authorities of the regime, it was also agreed to continue the working meetings between the parties, a fact that the prosecutor considered “important” because he had “reached a consensus, that the Office of the Prosecutor will be able to work with international organizations and partners, collaborating with support of Venezuela”.

For his part, Maduro said that with the opening of the office in Venezuela, it will be possible to have an “effective, real-time, more efficient level of dialogue and a level of technical assistance that will allow the November memorandum of understanding to take its course.”

Maduro also assured that the country is in a process of “deep reform” that he called the “revolution of justice”, in order to carry out all the necessary modifications. “We are now in a process of profound reform, I have called it the revolution of justice, to change everything that needs to be changed, in laws, in working methods, in the functioning of institutions, that process has taken place in Venezuela based on a social, institutional, political dialogue and begins to yield important results” , he explained.

The ICC began a formal investigation into Venezuela last November, after the preliminary examination carried out by the High Court Prosecutor's Office revealed indications that crimes and human rights violations had been committed in the Caribbean country.

(With information from EFE)

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