Colombia’s former President Alvaro Uribe wants to testify before the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, Uribe’s lawyer said Monday.
Uribe filed official charges against Chavez on Friday, the day before handing over the presidency to his successor Juan Manuel Santos.
While Santos immediately took steps to improve relations with Colombia’s socialist neighbor and agreed to meet Chavez in Bogota on Tuesday, Uribe “will testify against Chavez if the case prosecutor of the ICC wants him to,” the former president’s lawyer Jaime Granados said.
According to Granados. Uribe will testify as a civilian so as “not to compromise the incoming government.”
According to the ICC’s statutes, the Hague court must analyze the evidence to see if it warrants opening an official investigation.
“There must to be a reasonable basis to proceed,” the court’s statute reads.
Uribe’s announced Friday that he was suing Chavez before the ICC and the Inter-American Court for Human Rights, due to the presence of Colombian FARC and ELN guerrillas on Venezuelan soil.
On Monday morning, the ICC had not confirmed receipt of Uribe’s claim, and refused to comment to Spanish press agency Efe.