The International Criminal Court is looking into allegations of crimes against humanity committed in Venezuela, the United Nations said on Tuesday. The office of the prosecutor in the Hague said that it was in contact with the Venezuelan authorities regarding an “alleged disproportionate use of force and evidence of reprisals for peaceful protestors.”
At least 141 people have been killed in Venezuela since the protests erupted last year, according to the International Federation for Human Rights. Many of the deaths are reportedly attributable to security forces firing into crowds of people, many of whom were marching for “human rights.” The organization, which is headquartered in Geneva, has since March coordinated international solidarity actions in Venezuela, condemning what it describes as “ongoing, indiscriminate and brutal acts of violence.”
Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro has countered the charges of violence and reprisals by comparing his opponents to US officials.
“To understand who’s responsible for these deaths, one must look at the victims,” Maduro said during a late-night address to the nation on Monday. “You know that these murders have been committed by right-wing leaders of the United States, Europe and the Latin American countries.”
International criticism of the Maduro government continued to mount. On Tuesday, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights said that it was concerned over the situation and called on Venezuela to avoid the “escalation of tensions and confrontation.”
“Concerns have been expressed by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination that when rights are violated, the government has a responsibility to ensure that compensation is provided to victims who do not die as a direct result of the harm that they suffered,” it said in a statement.
Read the full story at The New York Times.
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