Borges: “In view of the lack of judicial independence in Venezuela, universal jurisdiction is necessary”

The Presidential Commissioner for Foreign Affairs, Julio Borges, said Tuesday that the Fact-Finding Mission revealed how the dictatorship uses justice in Venezuela as a political arm. The Commissioner pointed out that in view of the lack of judicial independence, international jurisdiction is necessary to avoid the continuation of impunity in the face of serious human rights violations in the country.

“The report of the Fact-Finding Mission made it clear that Nicolás Maduro has transformed justice into its political arm to incriminate and imprison civilians and military. In lieu the lack of judicial independence in Venezuela, the free world must activate universal jurisdiction to avoid that the crimes of the dictatorship remain unpunished”, he remarked.

The representative of the interim government’s foreign policy also assured that the dictatorship uses the Supreme Court to legitimize its abuse of power. “What we see on the part of the dictatorship is the use of the TSJ (Supreme Court) to intervene in political parties, illegally appoint a NEC (Electoral Council), interpret the Constitution in a rigged manner, and even decide student elections. There are no guarantees of any kind and that is why the Lima Group has pointed out that a change is required not only in the electoral entity, but also in the justice system,” he pointed out.

Likewise, Borges revealed that the UN report reflected the political bias of the magistrates of the dictatorship. “In a very detailed chapter it is evident that the magistrates elected by the dictatorship do not comply with the credentials to occupy their positions, they were elected in clear violation of the Constitution and this is something that the regime cannot hide”, he maintained.

Finally, he detailed that he will continue to insist that the countries may apply universal justice to judge those responsible for the violations of Human Rights in Venezuela, which in his opinion are part of a chain of command headed by Nicolás Maduro.

Según el informe de la Misión Independiente de Determinación de Hechos, para 2019 sólo alrededor del 15% de los jueces y las juezas de Venezuela son de carrera. Más de la mitad de los jueces están inscritos en el PSUV. pic.twitter.com/kGgiqw7TIA

— Julio Borges (@JulioBorges) October 27, 2020