ICC Denies Receiving Opposition Activist’s Case Against Maduro

The international court confirmed that it did not receive any documents stating a case against President Maduro from Lilian Tintori, self-proclaimed human rights activist and wife of jailed opposition leader Leopoldo López.

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Caracas, September 15th 2016 (venezuelanalysis.com) – The International Criminal Court confirmed this week that Lilian Tintori, wife of imprisoned opposition leader Leopoldo López, has not presented a formal case against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Earlier this month, Tintori alleged that she and her husband’s lawyer had presented the international judicial body with a formal case against the Venezuelan head of state.

“On the contrary, the [Public Defender’s] Office can confirm that it has not received any document from Tintori or any other group of Venezuelan lawyers, during her visit to The Hague at the beginning of September,” said the ICC spokesperson.

Tintori has formed a group with the wives and relatives of other jailed opposition leaders called, Families of Venezuelan Victims. Universal Press International (UPI) reports that Tintori has solicited international assistance regarding her husband’s case at the Organization of American States and the Vatican. 

According to Venezuelan news outlet Correo del Orinoco, Tintori expressed that she had presented a case against Maduro at the international court on September 6th for alleged crimes against humanity, harassment and persecution against opposition political party leaders. Tintori affirmed this via Twitter account in a message published on Tuesday September 13th linked to her Facebook account with the said statement. 

“We ratify the complaint made against the [Venezuelan] national government for crimes against humanity before the International Criminal Court,” read her the opening lines of the communique and her Tweet.

Additionally, a video circulated on Twitter featuring Tintori accompanied by López’s lawyer, Juan Carlos Gutiérrez at the ICC headquarters. In the video, they explained their reasons behind traveling to the international high court.

“We have come to represent all the victims in Venezuela, presenting irreversible evidence of crimes against humanity,” said Tintori.

Likewise, López released an official statement the same day suggesting that Tintori had presented a report “with all the human rights violations cases that have occurred” allegedly during Maduro’s administration. López advocated that the ICC “investigate and guarantee justice in Venezuela.”

Currently, López is serving 13 years in prison for his role in instigating guarimba protests in 2014 resulting in the death of 43 people in Venezuela and millions of dollars in public property damage.