Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil. Photo: Últimas Noticias.
The Venezuelan government criticized the International Criminal Court for being carried away by information from social media campaigns promoted by the far-right.
Foreign Minister Yván Gil issued a statement on behalf of the government condemning recent statements made by the International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan on the situation in Venezuela. The statements were made by the aforementioned official during his participation in the 23rd session of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
On Monday, the ICC Prosecutor demanded that Venezuelan authorities release all adolescents and other political prisoners held after protests erupted following the July 28 presidential election. Khan did not mention that Venezuelan authorities have jailed primarily criminals who promoted violence that led to the deaths of 28 Venezuelans on July 29 and 30, following the orders of far-right Venezuelan opposition leaders.
“After this year’s elections, I insisted in my communications with Venezuela and in public statements on the need to protect the rights of civilians, including children, who must be released if they are detained for political reasons or anyone who was peacefully protesting,” said Khan during the opening session of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute in The Hague.
“I have not seen the concrete implementation of laws and practices in Venezuela that I expected. That is why I want to make it clear that the ball is in Venezuela’s court. The path of complementarity is running out of the road,” the prosecutor also pointed out while noting that his office’s investigations into alleged crimes against humanity committed in Venezuela are moving forward “without delay.”
The text of the statement issued in response by the Venezuela government clearly expresses concern about the aforementioned prosecutor’s apparent lack of information regarding the progress that has been achieved in Venezuela in terms of human rights, including the reactivation of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights’ presence in the country.
Progressive Broad Front Wins Presidential Elections in Uruguay (+Venezuela’s Reaction)
Through the statement, the Venezuelan government “regrets that the prosecutor is carried away by information from public campaigns on social networks promoted by the extreme right” against Venezuela, stating that “Venezuela is a free and sovereign State that will continue to exercise all actions within its reach to make the truth prevail and defend its rights as a nation.”
Finally, the statement also extends a new invitation to the prosecutor to visit the country to “continue to address the commitments mutually acquired in the area of positive complementarity in a direct and constructive manner.”
Below is the full text of the statement:
The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela condemns the statements on the national situation made by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Ahmad Khan, during the Twenty-Third Session of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
The Venezuelan authorities have informed the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in a timely and comprehensive manner about all the measures adopted at the domestic level to advance in the fulfillment of the commitments assumed with the Rome Statute, as well as those reached in the two memoranda of understanding signed with the Office of the Prosecutor.
In this regard, Venezuela considers it worrying that the Prosecutor has not been informed of these advances and the exact point at which the issues addressed in his misguided statements are, including the reactivation of the presence of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Venezuelan territory, which took place in November of this year.
Likewise, it deeply regrets that the Prosecutor is carried away by information from public campaigns on social networks promoted by the extreme right, Zionism, and Western powers that seek to apply legal colonialism against Venezuela despite having direct communication channels with the national justice bodies, in a country where the rule of law is respected independently.
In any case, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela reiterates that if there is one thing that has been exhausted in the 21st century, it is legal colonialism. Venezuela is a free and sovereign State that will continue to take all actions within its reach to ensure that the truth prevails and to defend its rights as a nation against any initiative that seeks to use the institutionality of the International Criminal Court for purposes contrary to its reason for being and the principles of international law.
Finally, the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela extends a new invitation to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to visit the country and to continue to address the commitments mutually acquired in the area of positive complementarity in a direct and constructive manner.
(Últimas Noticias) with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/KW/SF
