The Venezuelan parliament has voted unanimously to withdraw the country from the International Criminal Court (ICC), EFE news agency reports. According to lawmakers, the move is intended to underscore that the ICC is “useless and servile“, BTA reports.
The bill was passed after the ICC Prosecutor's Office decided on December 1 to close its office in Caracas due to a lack of “real progress“ by Venezuela in fulfilling the requirement that states investigate alleged crimes themselves before the court intervenes.
The Speaker of the National Assembly, Jorge Rodriguez, said that the ICC “only serves the purposes of US imperialism” and that the decision represents an act of “solidarity with the suffering of the Palestinian people“.
The bill has already been sent to President Nicolás Maduro for promulgation.
Rodriguez added that Venezuela is leaving the ICC because the institution is “servile and its judges do not provide justice“. He accused the court of being silent “about Israel's genocide“ in Gaza.
The ICC has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Galant in 2024 for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The ICC prosecutor's office stressed that despite the closure of its Caracas office, the investigation into alleged crimes against humanity in Venezuela remains active and will be led by The Hague.
The court began its formal investigation in 2018 at the request of several countries. The government of Nicolas Maduro has repeatedly tried to stop the trial, claiming that Venezuela's judiciary is conducting its own investigations. In 2023, the ICC rejected these arguments and authorized the full resumption of the investigation into alleged crimes against humanity committed after 2017.
“Our work continues and will not be interrupted“, a court official told EFE.
Venezuela is one of the few countries to withdraw from the Rome Statute while it is under active investigation for serious human rights violations.