THE HAGUE: Venezuela opened its appeal Tuesday against the reopening of an International Criminal Court probe into alleged rights abuses in 2017, saying pre-trial judges were wrong to grant a prosecution request to continue.
Caracas had asked the Hague-based court to halt its probe last year into a government crackdown on protests against President Nicolas Maduro, in which over 100 people died, saying it would do its own domestic investigation.
But the ICC judges in June authorised chief prosecutor Karim Khan to resume, saying "it appears that Venezuela is not investigating the factual allegations... of crimes against humanity."
Caracas' lawyers told appeal judges Tuesday that Venezuela was unable to properly probe Khan's allegations because the information from the prosecutor's office was too vague.
ICC pre-trial judges "held that high-ranking officials are expected to be the investigation's focus," Ben Emmerson said.
But "the prosecutor has never identified any high-ranking official that he suspects in any offence that he intends to investigate," he said.
The prosecution's allegations were so general that it was "quite impossible in any practical sense for Venezuela to respond as envisaged and required", Emmerson said.
Prosecutors retorted by saying they were not required to give specific details at this point in their probe, but that the documents provided were "specific and meaningful" and that Caracas was indeed able to respond.
The probe is focused on a crackdown by security forces during protests sparked by the arrests of several opposition leaders and the Supreme Court's decision to dissolve the opposition-dominated National Assembly.
Five South American countries and Canada referred the situation in Venezuela to the ICC in 2018, and the court launched a preliminary investigation.
Prosecutor Khan began a formal investigation in November 2021, signing a deal with Maduro saying Venezuela would ensure the court could work properly there.
Then in April 2022, Venezuela said it would launch its inquiries and asked the court to suspend the probe, as it is entitled to do under the ICC's complementarity rules.
But Khan asked the court last November to resume the investigation.
Since 2017, more than 200 members of the police and military have been charged or sentenced for human rights violations, Caracas said in April last year.
The opposition claims those actions were taken merely to avoid an ICC investigation.