The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Briton Karim Khan, on Sunday began a three-day visit to Venezuela, a country under preliminary investigation for alleged crimes against humanity.
Karim Khan arrived in Caracas at the invitation of the government of President Nicolás Maduro, as part of a tour of Latin America that had previously taken him to Colombia.
State channel VTV reported on social media of the prosecutor's arrival at Maiquetia airport, which serves the Venezuelan capital, where he was received by Foreign Minister Félix Plasencia.
"
The visit, which responds to the formal invitation made by the Venezuelan State through the office of the Attorney General of the Republic, is part of the institutional relations that Venezuela has maintained with the International Criminal Court since its creation
", VTV posted on Twitter.
Read also Venezuela: for Maduro, Spain "offends" America by celebrating Christopher Columbus
"
Prosecutor Khan should know first-hand the progress of state institutions and establish a positive cooperative dialogue
" during the visit, it was added.
Based in The Hague (Netherlands), in 2018 the ICC opened a preliminary investigation into alleged human rights violations by the Maduro government, notably due to the violent crackdown on the 2017 anti-government protests in which nearly 100 people are dead.
Karim Khan's predecessor, Fatou Bensouda, said there was a "
reasonable basis
" to believe that crimes against humanity were committed and spoke of the "
inaction
" of the Venezuelan authorities to investigate them.
Karim Khan will have to decide whether to ask the judges to open a full investigation into the case, which could lead to indictments of those linked to the crackdown.
Venezuelan justice indicted and sentenced law enforcement agents for death during the 2017 protests, but critics believe that the measures were taken only to avoid a trial at the ICC.
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