(CNN)The International Criminal Court (ICC) volition formally analyse allegations of crimes against humanity successful Venezuela, the tribunal announced Wednesday.
ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan and Venezuela's embattled President Nicolas Maduro signed a "'Letter of Understanding' to facilitate practice and communal assistance to beforehand accountability for atrocity crimes," the tribunal said.
The Maduro authorities has been nether preliminary introspection astatine the ICC since February 2018. The tribunal is determining whether Venezuela merits a proceedings for alleged crimes against humanity.
The United Nations has accused Venezuelan information forces of utilizing excessive unit and arbitrarily detaining thousands of radical implicit the people of respective months during protests against Maduro's government.
More than 120 radical died successful protest-related incidents, according to the UN Human Rights Office, which based its estimates connected interviews with demonstrators and witnesses.
CNN has not been capable to independently corroborate those claims.
"The authoritative of the International Criminal Court has concluded the preliminary introspection of the concern successful Venezuela," the missive reads, "and has determined that it is due to unfastened an probe to find the information successful accordance with the Rome Statue."
Venezuela "considers that the allegations should beryllium investigated successful the state by existing nationalist institutions created for this purpose" but "despite the differences of views connected this issue, the parties stay committed to actively engaged with each different and enactment efforts further to the rule of complementarity," it besides says.
"I americium afloat alert of the responsibility lines that beryllium successful Venezuela, the geopolitical divisions that exist, we are not political, we are guided by the principals of legality and the regularisation of law," said Khan aft signing the missive of understanding.
Maduro, besides aft signing the missive connected Wednesday, said: "the doors of Venezuela are unfastened due to the fact that we privation truth, due to the fact that we privation justice, due to the fact that we privation to improve, due to the fact that Venezuela guarantees justice."
Opposition person Juan Guaidó, who has been backed by dozens of countries arsenic Venezuela's morganatic president, welcomed the determination by the court.
"The ceremonial opening of the probe for crimes against humanity, by the International Criminal Court, vindicates the close to get justness that has been denied successful Venezuela for the victims and their families," Guaidó said Wednesday connected his authoritative Twitter account.
Despite wide planetary enactment for Guaido, Maduro has managed to clasp powerfulness amid a collapsing system and US-backed efforts to region him from powerfulness done coordinated Western sanctions.
"This determination -- the archetypal successful Latin American past -- gives anticipation of justness to the hundreds of victims of brutal repression by the Maduro regime," said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas manager astatine Human Rights Watch, connected his authoritative Twitter relationship Wednesday.
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