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Venezuela will withdraw from the International Criminal Court over the tribunal’s perceived bias, the nation’s foreign minister said Friday. The announcement comes amid an ongoing ICC investigation into alleged crimes against humanity committed under ousted Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro’s government. Caracas had informed the United Nations of its “firm and irrevocable decision” to withdraw from the ICC, Foreign Minister Felix Plasencia wrote on X.

Interim leader Delcy Rodriguez, who took over after US forces ousted Maduro in January, had instructed the move, he added.”Venezuela considers that the Court’s actions reflect a demonstrated geographical bias, which has disproportionately concentrated its work on African and Latin American countries,” Plasencia said. The Hague-based court said it had not yet received a formal notification of Venezuela’s withdrawal.”We regret any decision to depart from the collective effort to end impunity for the most serious international crimes,” the ICC stated, adding it takes one year for official withdrawal from the court to take effect.

Even after that, “the withdrawing State remains bound by obligations that arose whilst it was a State Party,” the statement cautioned.”Withdrawal does not affect any pre-existing cooperation obligations arising from criminal investigations or proceedings that had commenced” previously, it added. The ICC is currently probing alleged crimes against humanity committed during crackdowns on protestors in Venezuela since 2014.

In December 2025, Venezuela’s parliament took steps to repeal the Rome Statute, the court’s founding text, after the tribunal closed its Caracas office citing fruitless government talks. And in March of this year, the ICC dismissed complaints filed by Venezuela that US sanctions on the country amounted to crimes against humanity. Plasencia’s announcement coincides with ICC member states’ decision Friday to dismiss top prosecutor Karim Khan over allegations of sexual assault.

Khan denies the allegations and his lawyers said Friday he will challenge his dismissal. In 2024, the 56-year-old Briton successfully applied for arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip. When President Donald Trump took office for the second time in 2025, the United States retaliated by imposing sanctions on the tribunal and its judges.

Neither the US nor Israel is a party to the ICC, which tries individuals for the world’s worst crimes including war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Fri, 24 Jul 2026 22:37:34 GMT