Venezuela's National Assembly (parliament) has unanimously declared UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk persona non grata after he publicly criticized the state of fundamental freedoms in the country, Reuters reports, BTA reports.
In a speech to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Turk presented a report citing cases of arbitrary detentions, enforced disappearances, torture, ill-treatment and other serious human rights violations in Venezuela.
The government of President Nicolas Maduro categorically rejected the report and described it as biased. Earlier, official Caracas accused Turk of failing to protect the rights of Venezuelan citizens deported from the United States and detained in a prison in El Salvador.
At the moment, there is no official comment from the High Commissioner's office on the case.
Declaring Turk persona non grata has no immediate legal consequences, but previous actions by the authorities indicate that concrete measures may follow - the Commissioner's office in Venezuela has already been closed once and it is possible that this will happen again.
The country's Attorney General Tarek Saab, who has consistently denied the existence of political prisoners, also attacked Turk for his position on the conflict in the Gaza Strip and called for his resignation.