Court authorities in Argentina on Wednesday requested the extradition of deposed Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro from the United States to face charges of crimes against humanity.
Federal Criminal and Corrections Court No. 2 issued international letters rogatory to formally seek Maduro’s extradition for trial in Argentina. The resolution, signed Wednesday morning, forms part of case CFP 2001/2023, which is investigating alleged crimes against humanity.
The court pointed out that Maduro "had been recently detained in Venezuela and transferred to the United States of America deprived of liberty."
The court noted that Maduro “had been recently detained in Venezuela and transferred to the United States of America deprived of liberty,” after being captured by US forces on January 3 and taken to New York.
It invoked the principle of universal jurisdiction, under which particularly grave crimes may be prosecuted outside the country where they were committed.
The decision follows an order from the court’s appeals chamber, Sala I, which on September 23, 2024, called for Maduro’s arrest for questioning – a mandate reaffirmed on January 15.
The extradition request is based on the 1997 Extradition Treaty between Argentina and the United States.
The court ordered the urgent translation of the letters rogatory through the Foreign Ministry’s Directorate of International Legal Assistance and instructed Argentina’s Federal Police Interpol department to be notified.
The court further ordered the Interpol Department of Argentina’s Federal Police to be notified of the lawsuits driving this case.
In 2024, local authorities requested the arrest of then-president Maduro in a case stemming from complaints filed by the George and Amal Clooney Foundation (CFJ) and the Argentine Forum for the Defense of Democracy (FADD).
In 2023, the two organisations filed a complaint against the Venezuelan government for human rights violations before Argentina's courts, citing the principle of universal jurisdiction.
Both complaints were later consolidated into a single case.
Prosecutors accuse Maduro and Venezuelan Interior, Justice & Peace Minister Diosdado Cabello of orchestrating "a systematic plan of repression, enforced disappearances, torture, killings, and persecution against a portion of the civilian population" beginning in 2014.
Argentina has previously applied universal jurisdiction to investigate allegations of grave crimes by Myanmar's military and Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega.
Several European countries, including France, Spain and Germany, also prosecute some of the worst crimes known to man, regardless of where they were committed.
Maduro has been accused of drug-trafficking and other crimes in the United States.
His next court hearing is scheduled for March 17 in New York.
– TIMES/AFP/NA
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