International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Karim Khan visits Venezuela for the second time in less than a yearwas investigated by this case for committing crimes against humanity.
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This is because the prosecutor is an official of an international organization and thus enjoys diplomatic immunity.
Ali Daniels, director of the NGO Acceso a la Justicia, explains to EL TIEMPO that the arrest warrant was issued by Russia and that, unlike those issued by the ICC, “these arrest warrants issued by countries are limited in cases of diplomatic immunity.”
In the second case, the Rome Statute – court rules– indicates that diplomatic immunity does not apply to arrest warrants for leaders.
Khan comes to Venezuela on behalf of the ICC, not individually, which gives him immunity. Venezuela should not comply with this order,” Daniels insisted, adding that from a legal standpoint, Caracas has no obligation to comply with or carry out the arrest.
The prosecutor’s visit, in Colombia, a country he also visited, “international law and justice are too important to be left to judges and prosecutors, everyone should have a share. When I come back from this mission in Colombia and Venezuela, I have some meetings with civil society”.
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Calixto Ávila, Provea’s human rights lawyer, said: Khan’s visit to Caracas will be a continuation of the memorandum of understanding signed on November 2 last year.Signed between the ICC and the Venezuelan State.
Ávila reiterates that the memorandum is Venezuela’s commitment to implement the necessary measures to ensure the effective administration of justice according to international standards and in accordance with the principle of complementarity, with the support of the ICC.
For Provea, the visit could mean the definitive opening of the ICC follow-up office in Caracas, whose budget has already been approved for an amount of 1,550,000 euros and was approved by the states party assembly last year.
ANA MARIA RODRIGUEZ BRAZON
AIR REPORTER
KARAKAS
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Source: Exame
