When seeking justice, truth, and reparation, it is important to determine the responsibility of civil and military senior officials in the face of crimes against humanity provided for by the Rome Statute, according to the conclusions of the latest report by Venezuelan NGO Control Ciudadano (Citizen Watch) entitled Venezuela before the International Criminal Court (ICC): Implications for the Bolivarian National Armed Forces.
The report explains that senior officials responsible for crimes against humanity in Venezuela will be under scrutiny by the International Criminal Court in the event of the opening of an investigation.
The report prepared by the research and analysis team at Control Ciudadano, provides detailed information about the most important chronological events related to the situations of ‘Venezuela I’ and ‘ Venezuela II ‘, the two preliminary investigations on the situation in Venezuela at the International Criminal Court. The document also presents a scenario analysis for both situations.
Negotiations and legal framework
In view of the process of negotiation carried out in Mexico by the government and sectors of the Venezuelan opposition, the report evaluates the effect that these may have on delaying or not the start of an investigation, taking into account the possibility that the ICC Prosecutor’s Office verifies that such dialogues and negotiations are not real and reliable.
The domestic legal framework in military matters is also analyzed by this new report, which concludes that the regulations do not include the necessary elements to “properly” judge senior officials or those who may be involved in the commission of crimes under international law. Therefore, it will not be easy for the Venezuelan State and senior military and civil officials to get away from scrutiny by the ICC or from the possible initiation of an investigation.
Rocío San Miguel, President of Control Ciudadano, considers that “the report is important for the Armed Forces as it reminds the members of the military of the relationship between senior officials and their subordinates in the chain of command, the responsibilities of the former in the prevention of crimes and the sanction of a subordinate that has committed a crime. These responsibilities are systematically overlooked by the National Armed Forces in the face of atrocity crimes”.
The report also reminds the military that the responsibility of senior officials remains even in the event of a change of command; that is, in the case that new officials assuming a position of command have knowledge that crimes have been perpetrated, before their appointment, by their subordinates or by their predecessors and decide not to take measures. In those cases, that new commander will also be responsible for such crimes if he or she does not advance the corresponding investigations and hand the perpetrators to justice.
You can find the full report in Spanish HERE.
Translated by José Rafael Medina
