Venezuelan opposition asks ICC to probe Maduro ahead of polls

A group of Venezuelan opposition figures has asked the International Criminal Court () to probe the country's leader Nicolas Maduro and other officials for "crimes against humanity", exiled dissident Carlos Vecchio said Wednesday.

"Yesterday we formally presented a request for the court to open a preliminary inquiry into high-ranking officials, especially Maduro, because we consider that they have committed crimes against humanity," Vecchio told reporters in the Spanish capital Madrid.

The move -- confirmed by an ICC source -- comes just weeks before December 6 legislative elections in Venezuela, which polls say the opposition may win as people in the oil-rich country suffer runaway inflation and shortages of basic goods.

"We are faced with a case of crimes... that involve murders, torture, illegal detentions, persecution, inhuman treatment," said Vecchio, the coordinator of opposition party Popular Will whose leader Leopoldo Lopez is in prison.

The request to the Hague-based court, which targets eight officials including Maduro, was made in the name of a group of alleged victims of the current regime, in which Vecchio has included himself.

It lists more than 30 alleged murders, 3,700 detentions that the opposition considers illegal, nearly 400 suspected cases of torture and some 800 people allegedly injured since February 2014 when deadly, nationwide protests against Maduro's government broke out.

The prosecutor's office at the ICC has between three to six months to decide whether to accept requests it receives, but Vecchio said his complaint was urgent as the elections near.

Maduro is due to make a speech on Thursday at the UN's Human Rights Council, of which Venezuela is a member, in Geneva.

Vecchio's announcement came a day after the head of the Organization of American States () -- a regional grouping -- questioned whether the forthcoming polls would be transparent and fair.

Last month, Venezuela rejected a request from the OAS to send an observer mission to monitor the elections.

OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro pointed out that Lopez was in jail, adding that opposition parties were having trouble getting air time on media.

Some opposition candidates have been disqualified, and opposition parties also have trouble getting access to campaign funding, he wrote in an 18-page letter to the head of the Venezuelan electoral commission.

Source: AFP