# ICC drops Venezuela sanctions inquiry while moving ahead on Belarus case
Event date: 2026-03-12
Prosecutors say there is not enough evidence of criminal intent
The International Criminal Court is dropping an investigation into whether US sanctions against Venezuela qualified as crimes against humanity, prosecutors said on 2026-03-12, according to AP. The decision closes one line of inquiry while leaving the court’s broader Venezuela work and a separate Belarus case in motion.
Venezuela had asked the ICC in 2020 to examine what it called unlawful coercive measures, arguing that asset freezes and travel bans targeting Venezuelan officials caused widespread suffering. After an initial investigation, prosecutors declined to pursue the case, saying they did not have enough evidence to move forward.
The key point in the AP report is the court’s reasoning. Prosecutors said it was generally accepted that sanctions may have worsened an already dire humanitarian situation, but that the evidence did not establish the necessary intent for criminal charges. That distinction matters because international criminal law requires more than harmful consequences; it also requires proof of a threshold intent that prosecutors said they lacked.
The court also said the closure of the sanctions inquiry was unrelated to events in January 2026, when US forces captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife and later carried out strikes on boats it said were carrying drugs from Venezuela. That clarification is important because it separates the sanctions case from the more recent escalation.
The AP report notes that the sanctions issue was separate from the ICC’s ongoing investigation into possible crimes committed by Venezuelan security forces during a crackdown on anti-government protests in 2017. So although one avenue is closing, the court’s broader scrutiny of Venezuela is not ending.
There is also a personnel angle. Appeals judges previously ordered chief prosecutor Karim Khan to recuse himself from an investigation into Venezuela because of a conflict-of-interest issue involving his sister-in-law, who had been part of Maduro’s legal team. Khan is currently on leave while allegations of sexual misconduct are investigated. Those details do not change the sanctions ruling, but they show the court is operating under strain.
In the same announcement, prosecutors said they were moving ahead with an investigation into possible crimes against humanity committed by Belarus. Lithuania had asked the court to open that case in 2024, arguing that Belarusian authorities had forced dissidents across the border. Because Belarus is not a party to the court but Lithuania is, the jurisdictional basis comes from the cross-border impact on a member state.
The combined effect is a mixed day for international accountability. On one hand, the ICC is ending a case that could not be sustained on the evidence it had. On the other, it is pressing ahead where it believes the legal basis is stronger. That is a reminder that the court’s work depends as much on evidentiary thresholds as on political urgency.
