Amnesty International said on Tuesday in a new report that abuses by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s regime, including extrajudicial executions and arbitrary detentions, may constitute crimes against humanity.
The report indicates that from January 21 to 25, 2019, in a total of 12 of the country’s 23 states, at least 47 people died in the context of protests, all of them as a result of gunshot wounds. During these five days, more than 900 people were arbitrarily detained in practically every state in the country.
“As we have been saying for years, in Venezuela there is a systematic policy of repression against opponents or those perceived to be opponents simply because they are protesting, for which Nicolás Maduro’s government must be held accountable before the international justice system,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International.
The report recommends a series of measures needed to prevent impunity of these serious human rights violations and crimes under international law: creating a commission of inquiry under the auspices of the UN Human Rights Council and the invoking of universal jurisdiction by those countries genuinely concerned about the situation in the country, as well as the examination of the facts by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.