(Milcah Anila, Intern Journalist)Venezuela: GENEVA – Venezuela’s President and top ministers are liable for probable crimes against humanity including extrajudicial killings and also the systematic use of torture, UN investigators said on Wednesday (Sept 16).
In their first report, a team of investigators tasked with probing a slew of alleged violations in Venezuela said that they had found evidence that state actors, including President Nicolas Maduro, were behind serious international crimes.
The International Fact-Finding Mission, created by the UN Human Rights Council a year ago, “found reasonable grounds to believe that Venezuelan authorities and security forces have since 2014 planned and executed serious human rights violations”, Ms. Marta Valinas, the mission’s chairperson, said during a statement.
Some of those violations, “including arbitrary killings and also the systematic use of torture, amount to crimes against humanity”, she said.
“Far from being isolated acts, these crimes were coordinated and committed consistent with state policies, with the knowledge or military mission of commanding officers and senior officialdom .”
The 411-page report spelled out which Venezuelan officials it deemed responsible, citing “reasonable grounds to believe that both the President and also the Ministers of People’s Power for Interior Relations, Justice and Peace, and for Defense, ordered or contributed to the commission of the crimes documented during this report”.
INTERNATIONAL ‘LEGAL ACTION’
The investigators demanded that Venezuelan authorities immediately perform “independent, impartial and transparent investigations” into the violations, and ensure victims receive “full redress”.
Other jurisdictions, including the International Court, “should also consider legal actions against individuals accountable for violations and crimes the mission identified”, Ms. Valinas said.
The three-person team was unable to go to Venezuela but based their findings on 274 remote interviews with victims, witnesses, former state officials, and others, and analysis of confidential documents, including legal case files.
Mr. Maduro faces mounting pressure from world powers who accuse him of violently cracking down on dissent over Venezuela’s economic collapse and on opponents during a harsh political stand-off in recent years.
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