Venezuelan lawmakers pave way for withdrawal from International Criminal Court

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Dec 11 (Reuters) – Venezuela’s national assembly on Thursday unanimously voted to repeal a law which ratified the Rome Statute, paving the way for the country to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC), which is investigating human rights abuses in the country.

The president of the ruling party-dominated assembly, Jorge Rodriguez, a close ally of President Nicolas Maduro, said the law would have immediate effect. Maduro is expected to sign the repeal so the country can formally notify the ICC it intends to withdraw. 

The law will demonstrate to the world “the uselessness and the servitude” of the ICC, Rodriguez said during the assembly session, accusing the court of acting in the interests of “North American imperialism.”

In 2020, then-ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan said there was a reasonable basis to believe government and military officials had committed crimes against humanity in Venezuela since 2017. A formal investigation began the following year.

The country’s opposition and human rights groups say anti-government protests in 2017 were met with torture, arbitrary detentions and abuses by security forces. More than 120 people died.

The approved bill followed the ICC’s recent decision to close its Caracas office, established in June 2023, citing a lack of “real progress” by the Maduro administration.

The Rome Statute is the 1998 treaty that created the ICC and obliges member states to cooperate with probes into serious international crimes. Venezuela joined the court in 2000. 

(Reporting by Reuters)