Appeal judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday rejected Venezuela's appeal against the decision to resume an investigation into alleged human rights abuses committed by government officials.
Last year, Caracas appealed the decision to resume the investigation, arguing that its prosecution should trigger the principle of complementarity, under which the court can only intervene if a country is not already investigating the same suspected crimes.
On Friday, the appeal judges unanimously rejected all grounds of appeal and gave the ICC prosecutor the green light to resume his investigation into the abuses, which could be qualified as crimes against humanity.
The Venezuelan government has accused political opponents of manipulating some cases of human rights violations under the government of President Nicolás Maduro. Authorities say they are already investigating allegations of abuse and that no large-scale crimes against humanity have occurred.
In 2020, the ICC prosecutor said there was a reasonable basis to believe that government and military authorities had committed crimes against humanity in Venezuela since 2017.
Protesters in 2017 led months of demonstrations against the government, a period marked by accusations of torture, arbitrary arrests and abuses by security forces. The protests left 125 people dead.
Source: CNN Brasil
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