Venezuela reiterates that crimes against humanity investigated by ICC ‘never happened’

The Venezuelan government on Friday voiced its disagreement with the International Criminal Court for reopening its investigation into the alleged commission of crimes against humanity in the Caribbean country, insisting that they “never happened.” The Appeals Chamber of the ICC unanimously rejected earlier on Friday the arguments presented by the government of Nicolás Maduro for closing the investigation.

In November, Caracas had argued that “crimes against humanity have never occurred” in Venezuela, and only “a handful of incidents” ocurred which are already under investigation, and therefore requested to put an end to this process before the international court. In a statement distributed on social networks on Friday, the government of Nicolás Maduro repeatd the same argument and added that “it has been amply and sufficiently demonstrated that the process initiated before the ICC responds to the intention to instrumentalize the mechanisms of international criminal justice for political purposes.

Venezuela’s executive vice president, Delcy Rodríguez, also accused the court of being politicized. “It is a case that is clearly politicized and where the intention is to instrumentalize international justice to attack Venezuela,” the official said in statements offered to the state-run VTV. She also said that “crimes against humanity have never been committed here”. Rodríguez pointed out that “barely 20% of the information provided by Venezuela” to the ICC’s pre-trial chamber was “taken into account” to dismiss the appeal.