Caracas, Oct 1 (EFE).- The arrest warrants for the presidents of Argentina, Javier Milei, and Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, which the Justice of their respective countries has issued mutually, have little chance of prospering in the short termbut, according to experts, The measure against the Venezuelan president may serve as “anticipation” as it is based on alleged crimes against humanity.
«For them to prosper, the person must be made available to the Argentine courts. For that there has to be an capture, so, if it is possible for it to prosper, it is an anticipation of situations that are future and unknown,” international law lawyer Simón Gómez explained to EFE.
But – he continued – an arrest against Maduro at this time “is not viable”, unless the president traveled to a third country that is part of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), due to the cooperation agreement between the High Court Prosecutor’s Office and Interpol, signed in December 2004.
«The extradition that has been requested from the Venezuelan authorities is based on an arrest warrant originating from an Argentine Federal Court that has been communicated to Interpol, so that a third State in which it is located, if it is a State that is part of the Statute of Rome, I would be obliged to hand that person over to the jurisdiction,” he said.
The decision was adopted by the Federal Chamber of the City of Buenos Aires in a case opened in early 2023, due to a complaint against Maduro presented by the Argentine Forum for the Defense of Democracy (FADD), based on the principle of universal justice. , which allows countries to prosecute serious human rights crimes, regardless of where they were committed.
Already in 2020, the United States filed charges of “narcoterrorism” against Maduro and offered $15 million for any information that leads to his capture, despite the fact that, later, US officials visited Venezuela to talk with the president about various political matters of interest. mutual.
Trace a path
The president of the FADD, Waldo Wolff, said at a press conference that the arrests of Venezuelan officials “will not” be made “immediately” and “the possibilities today are remote, but a path is beginning to be outlined.”
Meanwhile, Gómez pointed out that the decision of the Argentine court is “completely related” to the investigation by the Prosecutor’s Office of the International Criminal Court into Venezuela, despite the fact that the international organization is not investigating, at the moment, any Venezuelan official, but rather its Investigations focus on finding out if crimes against humanity were committed in the country.
However, the arrest warrant for President Milei – the lawyer explained – is not likely to succeed since “this case is not about crimes that exempt the immunity of a head of state.”
“Venezuela can request extradition in violation, obviously, of international law, but that order will be ignored by both the Argentine courts and Interpol,” he added.
“Unfounded” accusation
The Venezuelan Prosecutor’s Office requested a “red alert” from Interpol against Milei for “aggravated robbery” and six other crimes related to the Venezuelan-Iranian plane that was held in Buenos Aires and that was sent to the United States in February, according to the head of this institution, Tarek William Saab.
“The request has already been sent, let’s wait to see how Interpol is going to act, based on damage done that is common crime, that is transnational crime, that violates conventions against organized crime,” said Saab.
Lawyer Simón Gómez maintained that the main thing in this case is “the unfounded nature of the accusation,” because the situation with the Venezuelan-Iranian plane is not attributable to the Executive branch, but to the Judiciary.
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2024-10-02 19:00:52
