Argentine authorities on Wednesday requested the extradition of deposed Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro from the United States to face charges of crimes against humanity, according to a court ruling obtained by AFP.
An Argentine judge evoked the principle of universal jurisdiction to request that Maduro, who was captured by US forces on January 3 and taken to New York, be handed over for questioning in connection with allegations of grave rights abuses.
The principle holds that some crimes are so heinous they can prosecuted in countries other than where they are alleged to have been committed.
In 2024, Argentine authorities had already 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 organizations 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 powerful Venezuelan Interior 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 is accuses of drug trafficking and other crimes in the United States.
His next court hearing is scheduled for March 17 in New York.
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