Docs’ report on Du30 indecisive–defense
Lawyers for former President Rodrigo Duterte in his murder case at the International Criminal Court (ICC) sought to discredit the latest medical reports on his condition, which suggested that he has the “competency” to stand trial.
This as the prosecution, in its observations on the medical reports, urged the Pre-Trial Chamber (PTC) I to declare Duterte “capable of meaningfully exercising his procedural and fair trial rights,” and that he was “fit to participate” in the pretrial proceedings.
Duterte is detained at the Scheveningen prison complex in The Hague, the Netherlands, for three counts of murder as a crime against humanity for more than 49 killings in his so-called war on drugs when he served as Philippine president and earlier as Davao City mayor.
The defense, led by Nicholas Kaufman, told the PTC that the medical findings of the court-appointed team of specialists could not be used as the deciding factor on Duterte’s health, especially on his cognitive faculties, because they “contradict each other.”
Redacted
“The reports provided by the Panel and the joint executive summary are not dispositive nor can they be dispositive,” the defense said in its 12-page observations on the reports of the panel of experts made public on Friday.
“Nowhere … did the [PTC] indicate that the Panel was meant to be decisive and the final word on Mr. Duterte’s competency,” it continued.
The observations from the defense were in response to the medical reports on Duterte’s cognitive faculties that the three-member panel of experts submitted to the chamber on Dec. 5.
Details of the reports, however, remain redacted. The official copy of the doctors’ findings is also unlikely to be made public for containing sensitive information.
Citing “striking” discrepancies between the findings of the panel, the defense said the “two most relevant” members contradict each other on the former president’s “underperformance.”
The report did not identify the doctors and their conclusions being assailed by the defense were also heavily redacted.
The doctors’ panel was made up of a forensic psychiatrist, a neuropsychologist, and a geriatric and behavioral neurologist. They were chosen based on recommendations of the ICC Registry, the court’s administrative arm.
“If Professor [name redacted] cannot rule out ‘[redacted]’, then his findings seriously undermine the weight of [redacted] relied upon by Professor [redacted],” the defense said.
“Such internal inconsistencies undermine the overall weight of the general joint conclusion on fitness,” it stressed.
Duterte’s lawyers also pointed out that their client already has a “short-term memory” and thus unable to “retain information for more than a short space of time.”
“To take a basic example, he may hear evidence in court, but he will have forgotten it by the time he needs to compare it against other evidence. He is thus incapable of following a trial, of exercising appropriate discretion, and of making informed decisions or instructing counsel effectively,” it noted.
‘Fit to participate’
But the prosecution said the medical findings should prompt the chamber to resume the pretrial proceedings, which the defense sought to be indefinitely suspended.
“Upon completion of their assessments, panel members individually reached the same overall conclusion that, while frail and elderly, Mr. Duterte nevertheless possesses the necessary capacities to meaningfully exercise his procedural and fair trial rights,” the prosecution said in its nine-page observations signed by Deputy Prosecutor Mame Niang.
The doctors’ panel, the prosecution noted, unanimously stated that the 80-year-old Duterte is “an unreliable historian concerning his health and mental functions.”
The Office of Public Counsel for Victims (OPCV), the temporary legal representative of potential victims in the case, also called on the chamber to declare Duterte “fit to participate” in the proceedings and allow him to exercise his right to a fair trial after also going through the medical reports.
