Venezuela on Friday lost a bid to stop the International Criminal Court resuming an investigation into alleged rights abuses in 2017.
Judges at the court in The Hague unanimously struck down arguments by Caracas that pre-trial judges wrongly allowed the ICC chief prosecutor to resume a probe into the deadly violence.
"The Appeals Chamber ... rejects the arguments brought by Venezuela. It rejects the appeals and confirms the impugned decision," Judge Marc Perrin de Brichambaut told the court.
Five South American countries and Canada referred events in Venezuela to the ICC in 2018 and the court launched a preliminary investigation.
Prosecutor Karim Khan opened a formal investigation in November 2021 into a government crackdown on protests against President Nicolas Maduro, in which over 100 people died.
In April 2022, Caracas asked Khan to halt his probe, saying it would carry out its own investigation.
- 'No meaningful justice ' -
But in June last year, ICC pre-trial judges told Khan to resume, saying the local investigation was not progressing.
"It appears that Venezuela is not investigating the factual allegations... of crimes against humanity," those judges said, adding that only "limited investigative steps" had been taken.
Venezuela appealed that decision but the appeals judges had "no convincing reason" to go against the earlier ruling, Judge Perrin de Brichambaut said.
ICC prosecutors and a rights group hailed the decision.
The judgement "affirms the prosecution's position" that the pre-trial judges "reasonably and correctly concluded that the government of Venezuela's domestic criminal proceedings did not sufficiently mirror the scope of the prosecutions' intended investigation," ICC prosecutors said in a statement.
"The decision confirms what these victims already know - with no meaningful justice in Venezuela, the ICC provides an essential path to accountability," Human Rights Watch added.
- 'Hides the truth' -
The Caracas government scorned the ruling.
"Venezuela rejects the unfounded decision," its Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said.
The decision "seeks to hide the truth about Venezuela, in an obvious case of political instrumentalization against the country," she said on X, formerly Twitter.
"This entire manuever has been built from the manipulation of a small set of crimes that, as evidenced by all the information provided by Venezuela, have been or are being duly investigated and punished by the authorities of the Venezuelan justice system," its foreign ministry added.
The investigation is into a crackdown on protests sparked by the arrests of opposition leaders and the decision of Venezuela' supreme court to dissolve the opposition-dominated National Assembly.
Started his probe in 2021, Khan signed a deal with Maduro saying Venezuela would ensure the court could work properly there.
Venezuela said it would launch its own inquiry and asked the court to suspend the probe, as it is entitled to do under ICC rules.
Since 2017, more than 200 members of the police and military have been charged or sentenced for human rights violations, Caracas said in April 2022.
The opposition claims those actions were taken merely to avoid an ICC investigation.
Operating since 2002, the ICC is the world's only independent tribunal to investigate the world's worst crimes.
