Nothing explains the International Criminal Court's inaction
CICIVEN voiced indignation on May 7, 2026, that the ICC Prosecutor's Office has issued no summonses or arrest warrants in the Venezuela I investigation, opened in 2021, and urged the Court and its organs to act immediately.
Originally published by VenAmérica ·
Written by CICIVEN
Republished by Roger Quiroz ·
Read the original: venamerica.org/home/nada-explica-la-inaccion-de-la-corte-penal-internacional
CICIVEN on the Prosecutor’s Office’s unjustified delay
The International Committee against Impunity in Venezuela, CICIVEN, reiterates its deepest concern and indignation over the unjustified delay in the “Situation in Venezuela I”, concerning crimes against humanity, and over the regrettable and unacceptable inaction of the Prosecutor’s Office, which, duly authorized and with no known legal obstacle, has not issued the summonses to appear and arrest warrants that the circumstances demand, and has halted the process without any justification and without the Court taking the actions necessary to move the Prosecutor’s Office in its commitment to justice.
On November 3, 2021, four and a half years ago, the ICC Prosecutor’s Office closed the Preliminary Examination and opened the Formal Investigation, authorized by the Pre-Trial Chamber (June 27, 2023) and later confirmed by the Appeals Chamber (March 1, 2024), after the appeals filed by the criminal regime prevailing in Venezuela. Nevertheless, no progress has been made toward justice for the victims.
CICIVEN recalls that the function of the Court, in addition to punishment, as set out in the Rome Statute (1998), includes a preventive function, which must be fulfilled in the Venezuela I Case, since serious crimes against humanity continue to be committed today, without any action seeking to stop such repeated conduct.
The International Criminal Court is one of the main bodies for confronting impunity for crimes against humanity, prosecuting and punishing their perpetrators, and protecting and providing reparations to the victims. That is why, since we founded CICIVEN in 2020, we have supported the ICC vigorously and firmly, while continuing to express our concern about its functioning and effectiveness as an institution of international criminal jurisdiction. Today we raise our voice and our alarm with greater concern and, why not say it, with indignation: what is the ICC Prosecutor’s Office waiting for to act? Nothing justifies that thousands of victims, of whom more than eleven thousand five hundred (11,500), according to the Victims and Reparations Office of the ICC Registry, have ratified the complaints of their cases before the Pre-Trial and Appeals Chambers (2023 and 2024), have received no response whatsoever, while new victims persistently emerge.
CICIVEN once again calls on the International Criminal Court and its organs, especially the Presidency of the Bureau of the States Parties, the Presidency of the Court, the Prosecutor’s Office and the Office of Public Counsel for Victims, to act immediately and prosecute the alleged perpetrators of these crimes, whose names have been duly reported and published by Heads of State, by reports of international bodies such as the OAS General Secretariat (2018) or those of the UN Independent Fact-Finding Mission (over the last 5 years), and by numerous civil society organizations and victims.
We demand action now, which will have a preventive and deterrent effect in Venezuela.
In defense of the victims, we demand: let there be justice in The Hague!
In Miami, on May 7, 2026, Board of Directors of CICIVEN, José Emilio Castellanos, Wilfredo Castro, Luis Corona, Juan José Monsant, Rosario Orellana, José Pinto and…
William Cárdenas Rubio, President
Paciano Padrón, Vice President
Víctor Rodríguez Cedeño, Director of International Relations
Walter Márquez, Director General
