GENEVA – Venezuela’s president and top ministers are responsible for probable crimes against humanity, UN investigators said on Wednesday.
A team tasked with probing a slew of alleged violations said they had found evidence that state actors, including President Nicolas Maduro, were behind serious crimes such as extrajudicial killings and the systematic use of torture.
Mission chairperson Marta Valinas said the report “found reasonable grounds to believe that Venezuelan authorities and security forces have since 2014 planned and executed serious human rights violations.”
Some of those violations, “including arbitrary killings and the systematic use of torture, amount to crimes against humanity,” said Valinas.
The 411-page report identified the Venezuelan officials deemed responsible, citing “reasonable grounds to believe that both the president and the ministers of People’s Power for Interior Relations, Justice and Peace, and for Defence, ordered or contributed to the commission of the crimes documented.”(AFP)
