Dominic Raab, the UK foreign secretary, has been urged to support a legal case arguing that the Venezuelan government of Nicolas Maduro has systematically tortured its people.
The call came from leading Venezuela human rights campaigner Tamara Suju who visited London to persuade Britain to join six countries in pressuring the international criminal court (ICC) to pursue a case against the Venezuelan regime.
Suju, the executive director of the Casla Institute, asked Raab to draw on his experience as a lawyer for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, including at the ICC in The Hague, from 2000 to 2006.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
She claims that recent arrests of demonstrators and military figures are systematically directed by the Maduro government.
She said: “We need a European country, preferably Britain, with sufficiently solid institutions, a democratic tradition and commitment to human rights to join us in the ICC not just with words but to subscribe formally to the case.
“We also need Great Britain to impose personal and economic sanctions against the Maduro regime and to close their spaces.”
The ICC referral has already been backed by Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay, Peru and Canada. The Guardian says that British backing for the ICC investigation “would be a further blow for Maduro”, who succeeded the leftwing Hugo Chavez as Venezuela’s president.
Talks are under way between supporters of Maduro and Juan Guaido, the self-proclaimed interim leader recognised by most EU countries and backed by the US. It is believed that the ICC case could play into the hands of Guaido.
Donald Trump has tightened economic sanctions against Maduro again this week.
The Chicago Tribune editorial board had previously warned the president about Maduro, arguing that “the Trump administration should harbour no illusions about Maduro, who appears bent on assuming the mantle of dictator”.
-
Texas’s abortion law: the Republicans get their way, at lastSpeed Read SB8 authorises private citizens to sue anyone who performs, ‘aids or abets’ an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy
-
Changing legal gender: what’s new and how does it work?Speed Read Cost of a gender recognition certificate application is reduced from £140 to £5
-
America’s bloodiest state votes to ban the death penaltySpeed Read Virginia has executed more than 1,300 people in its 400-year history
-
FBI accused of ‘fake’ background check on Donald Trump Supreme Court nomineeSpeed Read Democratic senator calls for ‘proper oversight’ over Brett Kavanaugh investigation into sexual assault claims
-
Family of Malcolm X claims letter proves FBI and NYPD involved in his murderSpeed Read Daughters of assassinated civil rights leader demand reopening of investigation
-
Meghan Markle granted nine-month delay in Mail on Sunday privacy caseSpeed Read Duchess of Sussex had applied for summary judgement in battle over letters sent to her estranged father
-
Meghan Markle to pay £67,000 after losing first round of legal battle against Mail
Speed Read Duchess of Sussex is suing the newspaper’s publisher for printing parts of private letter to her father
-
MI6 agents tried to stop judge seeing secret documents in ‘licence to kill’ caseSpeed Read Intelligence agency was forced to apologise for ‘any misunderstanding’, court documents show
