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Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro: Accusation of "extrajudicial executions and systematic use of torture"
Photo: MANAURE QUINTERO / REUTERS
UN investigators have accused Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro and ministers of his government of alleged crimes against humanity.
There is "justified reason to believe that the Venezuelan authorities and security forces have planned and committed serious human rights violations since 2014," said a statement published in Geneva by the International Commission of Investigations chaired by Marta Valiñas.
The Venezuelan government denied the allegations.
The UN investigators accuse the government of "extrajudicial executions and the systematic use of torture".
It was not about individual incidents, but about "coordinated crimes with the knowledge or direct support" of senior members of the government, said Valiñas.
The investigators had "reasonable grounds to believe that the president" and the ministers of interior and defense "ordered the crimes or contributed to their execution".
The UN investigators called for an "independent, impartial and transparent" investigation into the incidents, as well as for "comprehensive reparations" for the victims.
They recommended the International Criminal Court to take legal action against those named in the report.
The three-man team of investigators was unable to travel to Venezuela for their investigations, but relied on 274 interviews with victims, witnesses and former Venezuelan officials as well as confidential documents and court files.
The commission was founded a year ago by the UN Human Rights Council and had investigated more than 2,500 incidents in which a total of around 5,000 people had been killed by security forces.
The Venezuelan government denied the allegations.
The UN report was "peppered with untruths," said Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza on the online service Twitter on Wednesday.
It was created "remotely and without methodological rigor" by a "phantom mission" directed against Venezuela and controlled by governments subject to Washington.
Despite massive international pressure and the devastating economic situation in the South American country, Maduro has been in power for years.
The left-leaning head of state has the military behind him, among other things, but also support from Russia and China.
However, 60 countries, including the USA and Germany, officially recognize the parliamentary chairman Juan Guaidó as President of Venezuela.
Guaidó declared himself the country's interim president in January 2019 and has been fighting a bitter power struggle against Maduro ever since.
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