Versión Español
EspañolPresident of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro is being sued for crimes against humanity following the massive wave of deportations from the country to Colombia in August 2015.
A group of lawyers in Colombia presented the complaint to the Prosecutors Office in Cúcuta, the capital of the department of Northern Santander, which touches the Venezuelan border.
The approximately 400-page document details how a section of the border was closed between Venezuela and Colombia in August of 2015, and that Maduro deported around a thousand Colombians residing in Venezuela, then another 15,000 that had decided to return.
“This forced displacement, massive deportation, destruction of their property and their families forced us to work with the lawyers of both nations to submit a complaint of crimes against humanity against Nicolás Maduro,” President of the Trial Lawyer Association of Northern Santander, Rafael Villamizar, said.
Villamizar also explained that the suit addressed Maduro “not as head of state, but as someone who loses his power due to having engaged in these practices and can be detained in any country in the world.”
“With the help of congress members of the Venezuelan opposition,” he’d said, “we want Colombia’s justice system to accuse the creator of this mass displacement … we demand his detention as a way to remedy the suffering of these victims who have not been able to rebuild their lives.”
Former Venezuelan Congressmen Walter Márquez said that the filing not only includes the deportation of more than 1,500 Colombians, but also the destruction of border bridges in the upper reaches of the Táchira River, and the forced displacement of more than 20,000 Colombians due to the closure of the border.
Source: El Nacional.
