ICC prosecutor demands Maduro regime guarantee rights of imprisoned civilians, release minors

International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Karim Khan demanded this Monday that the Nicolás Maduro regime guarantee the rights of opposition civilians detained for political reasons or for participating in peaceful demonstrations.

He also called for the release of minors and children who the communist regime imprisoned for political reasons.

“After this year's elections, I insisted in my communications with Venezuela and in public statements about 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.” Khan stated.

The prosecutor added that the regime also has the obligation to facilitate access to the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

“This had been previously promised to me in writing, but it has not yet materialized,” he said.

He also emphasized the lack of “concrete implementation of laws and practices” that protect the rights of civilians and warned that the prosecutor's investigations “are still ongoing and active.”

Khan recalled that, during his visit to Caracas in April, he insisted with Venezuelan authorities about the need for “real progress” in internal investigations and in cooperation with his office.

However, he highlighted the problems in the progress:

“There has been a continuous commitment. “There have been continuous discussions about complementarity, but complementarity cannot be a never-ending story.”

He also illuminated the importance of guaranteeing justice for the victims, putting into perspective the other countries investigated by the ICC, such as Libya and Bangladesh.

“All lives matter equally. Venezuelans have the same right to justice as the families I met in Libya or Bangladesh in the last two weeks. “This is as basic as it gets, but it is worth underscoring that imperative in terms of the decisions my office is making,” he concluded.

Opposition leader María Corina Machado and President-elect Edmundo González Urrutia denounced fraud in the elections held on July 28 in Venezuela, when the regime controlled National Electoral Council (CNE), proclaimed Maduro as the winner without showing the detailed results of the vote.

The opposition has claimed González Urrutia's victory, ensuring that they have 80% of the copies of the minutes that demonstrated his victory, which were disseminated on a website.

The protests that broke out after the elections left 28 dead, 200 injured and more than 2,400 detained.