The Criminal Court rejects Venezuela's appeal and continues the investigation for crimes against humanity

The Government of Venezuela faces a new setback in the International Criminal Court.

The judges of The Hague have unanimously decided to dismiss the challenge introduced last year with the intention of stopping the investigation process initiated into the alleged commission of crimes against humanity in the last decade under the administration of Nicolás Maduro, which include arrests arbitrary killings, torture and forced disappearances.

The process that began on November 3, 2021, after Argentina, Canada, Colombia, Chile, Paraguay and Peru presented a complaint to the court in 2018, continues.

The Venezuelan Foreign Ministry has described the decision as unfounded.

This is one of the fronts on which Chavismo battles.

The appeal that the Government's lawyers filed last year opened the door to hearing in Court part of the testimonies of more than 8,000 victims who gave statements before the Victims' Defense Office and the observations of the Organization's panel of independent experts. of American States during the hearing held in November.

The sentence comes at a time when Chavismo is once again in the crosshairs of the international community due to a worsening of political persecution and repression, in the year of the presidential elections, with two recent episodes that have once again raised alarms about the human rights situation in the country.

The first, the arrest of activist Rocío San Miguel, whose defense has denounced serious violations of due process, including incommunicado detention and disappearance for several days.

San Miguel, after 20 days of arrest on accusations of conspiracy and terrorism, has not been able to receive assistance from her lawyers.

The second, the expulsion of the members of the technical office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights for having expressed their concern about the San Miguel case.

The Government has argued that the justice system does the job of investigating and convicting crimes.

But the ICC has replied that it is not done under the same category of crimes against humanity nor on the senior officials who are responsible for their commission.

In a statement, Foreign Minister Yván Gil has assured that the ICC responds to political intentions: “This entire maneuver has been built from the manipulation of a reduced set of crimes that have been or are being duly investigated and punished by the criminal justice system. Venezuelan justice.”

Human rights defenders, however, have constantly denounced the impunity surrounding many of the cases related to arrests, torture of political prisoners, murders of protesters in the protest cycles of 2014, 2017 and 2019 and during security operations.

The OAS panel of experts has welcomed the Court's decision and urges prosecutor Karim Khan to include in his investigation “the most recent crimes committed in the escalation of politically motivated persecution, detentions and forced disappearances, ahead of the elections.” 2024 and to include all perpetrators, including high-level state perpetrators.”

A report from the Center for Defenders and Justice of Venezuela has counted 97 attacks against NGOs during the month of January.

“The intimidation and attacks recorded during the first month of the year show the lack of protection for those who defend, demand and promote rights and the lack of conducive and safe environments for the exercise of their work,” states the report released this Friday.

In 2023, this organization counted 524 attacks.

Added to this is the National Assembly's intention to approve legislation for the supervision of social organizations, which contemplates fines of up to $12,000 for entities that do not declare the identity and origin of donations.

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