Tamara Sujú, director of Casla Institute and human rights lawyer, reported that 243 parliamentarians from Latin America support the ICC's investigation into the Maduro regime for allegedly committing crimes against humanity in Venezuela. Sujú claimed that the initiative aims to hold the perpetrators accountable.
#Atencion: #AmericaLatina: 243 Parlamentarios de América Latina respaldan la Investigación que se está llevando a cabo en la @IntlCrimCourt por Crimenes de Lesa Humanidad cometidos por la dictadura de Maduro, para exigir la Responsabilidad de sus Autores. @KarimKhanQC 👏👏👏 pic.twitter.com/l2P87y6Sds
— Tamara Suju (@TAMARA_SUJU) March 27, 2024
The 243 parliamentarians are from Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Colombia, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Dominican Republic and Uruguay. They issued a statement declaring that the systematic repression and persecution against Venezuelans is especially alarming.
We, the undersigned, parliamentarians of Latin America, find the systematic repression and persecution against Venezuelans alarming. It has manifested itself in more arbitrary detentions and other crimes established in Article 7 of the Rome Statute, as well as the persecution against members and directors of political parties, union members, lawyers, journalists, human rights defenders and activists or people who demonstrate or protest peacefully against the government of Nicolás Maduro. We fully support the investigations that the Prosecutor's Office of the International Criminal Court is currently carrying out under the Rome Statute, on the alleged crimes against humanity committed by the Venezuelan government to hold their perpetrators accountable.
The initiative follows a recent decision by the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which dismissed an appeal earlier this month from the Nicolás Maduro regime. The regime's appeal aimed to halt the investigation into alleged crimes against humanity.
"The decision of the Appeals Chamber that I will dictate is adopted unanimously. The Appeals Chamber has deemed it appropriate to confirm the contested decision," said Marc Perrin de Brichambaut, president of the ICC Appeals Chamber, in statements reported by the newspaper El Nacional.
ICC Attorney General Karim Khan will proceed with his investigation into the allegations. Additionally, the court specified that the prosecutor must not disclose the specifics of the investigation to the Nicolás Maduro regime.
In November 2021, International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Khan opened an investigation into possible crimes against humanity in Venezuela. "Since 2020, the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission has identified sufficient grounds to believe that crimes against humanity have been committed as part of a state policy of repression of opponents," Human Rights Watch said.
