Venezuela has formally notified the UN of its “irrevocable” decision to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC), which had been conducting a multi-year investigation into members of its armed forces and other officials, a Venezuelan official said on Friday.
The government justified the move by alleging a “geographical bias” within the court, claiming it disproportionately targets nations in the Global South, specifically across Africa and Latin America, Venezuelan Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Felix Plasencia wrote on X.
Echoing his words, Venezuelan Acting President Delcy Rodriguez said the institution had been used to target the country.
Photo: AFP
“The International Criminal Court has been so heavily politicized to attack the Venezuelan people and the Venezuelan state that we do not believe in that type of organization or institution,” Rodriguez said.
The move had been expected since December last year, when Venezuela’s national assembly voted — a month before the US removed former Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro from power — to repeal a law ratifying the Rome Statute, paving the way for the withdrawal.
The court, which was established to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression when member states are unwilling or unable to do so themselves, has been investigating alleged crimes against humanity in Venezuela.
In 2020, the ICC said there was a reasonable basis to believe that civilian officials, members of the armed forces and pro-government people had committed crimes against humanity in Venezuela since at least 2017.
Karim Khan, who became ICC prosecutor in 2021, opened a formal investigation later that year.
In January last year, the ICC closed its office in Caracas, citing a lack of cooperation from the Venezuelan government. She has become a close ally of the administration of US President Donald Trump, which has said it would seek to dismantle the ICC.
The withdrawal also came the same day ICC member states voted to dismiss Khan as prosecutor following allegations of sexual misconduct, two diplomatic source said.
Khan denies the allegations.
Eighty-two of the court’s 125 member states voted in favor of his removal, they said.
Venezuela’s withdrawal from the ICC comes as its post-Maduro transition remains heavily shaped by Washington.
Trump on Friday said Venezuela was not ready to hold elections.
“As far as the elections in Venezuela, they’re not really ready for them yet, but boy, a lot of progress has been made. Delcy’s been doing a fantastic job,” Trump said.
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