Relatives of those killed in the 2017 anti-government protests in Venezuela called Saturday “positive” that the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) set up an office in the country and expressed their desire to “be heard” and that “extrajudicial executions” be investigated.
“We, the families and victims of those killed in 2017 protests trust international justice through the ICC. We hope to be heard and that extrajudicial executions will be incorporated into the investigation,” the account of the Alliance of Relatives and Victims 2017 (Alfavic) wrote on Twitter.
ICC prosecutor 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 this week, where he traveled to Caracas after being invited by the regime.
In this regard, Elvira Pernalete, mother of Juan Pablo Pernalete, a young man killed at point-blank range by a law enforcement agent as confirmed in 2017 by the Public Prosecutor's Office, sees it “as positive” that the ICC should install it in Venezuela “as long as the victims are heard, (and) that the killings and executions extrajudicial cases are included in the investigation”.
“We have been seeking justice for five years that we have been denied. (...) Now, after five years, with all the international pressure, they intend to create a false sense of giving us justice, justice that is not genuine, because here they are doing, in an overrun manner, investigations in the Public Ministry in an accelerated manner,” he said.
He pointed out that the authorities “are not investigating the chain of command” and that the accusations “they have given to very few officials do not correspond to the seriousness or the reality of the events, which causes these officials to be released”.
“These investigations are insufficient, (...) they benefit the perpetrators and not the victims. We are at a disadvantage, because the whole system is flawed to give us true justice,” he added.
In the last week of March 2017, Venezuela was shaken by two rulings of the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) that abolished the powers of the then opposition majority Parliament, giving way to a wave of protests that resulted in more than 120 deaths and the condemnation of the Maduro regime by part of the world.
The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court will open an office in Caracas
The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khan, said on Thursday in Caracas that the body he leads will open an office in Venezuela , following an agreement reached with Maduro.
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 the support from 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.”
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