ICC chamber junks Duterte bid for appeal
The Pre-Trial Chamber (PTC) I of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has denied the request of former President Rodrigo Duterte to appeal its confirmation of the charges against him and prevent his trial for crimes against humanity.
In a decision dated May 21, the PTC I said the two reasons stated by the defense did not constitute an “appealable issue within the meaning of Article 82 (1)(d) of the Rome Statute” or the treaty that established the ICC. Under the provision, a party to a case may appeal a decision that could “significantly affect the fair and expeditious conduct of the proceedings or the outcome of the trial.”
The appeal, filed when the Duterte defense team was still led by lawyer Nicholas Kaufman, cited two grounds: that the chamber erred in law when it supposedly “diluted” the requirement that the accused be made aware of the details of the charges; and when it failed “to articulate a reasoned evidentiary basis” for confirming the charges.
In rejecting the request, the chamber maintained that it was able to identify the three groups of victims relevant to the three counts of murder making up the charges against the ex-president, thus allowing for the “proper identification of the parameters of the case.”
The PTC I was referring to the three groups composed of 78 individuals who were killed during Duterte’s so-called war on drugs. They were those killed in Davao City during his years as its mayor; the suspects tagged as “high-value targets” of antidrug operations during his presidency; and those killed in “barangay (village) clearance operations” conducted across the country.
“Whether and how alleged individual victims actually fall within any of these categories amounts to a factual question to be assessed and determined at trial,” it said in its 12-page ruling.
Misunderstood
As to the defense argument that the chamber failed to address a number of issues and conduct an “incident-specific assessment,” the ruling noted that Duterte’s lawyers misunderstood the nature of the confirmation of charges.
“As rightly indicated by the CLRVs (common legal representative of victims), a decision on the confirmation of charges does not require a detailed, incident-by-incident adjudication comparable to a trial judgement,” it said. “Such an approach would be inconsistent with the limited scope and purpose of confirmation proceedings, as explained in the confirmation decision.”
The defense filed an appeal request on April 30 to seek an opportunity to revive the issue before the Appeals Chamber and seek the reversal of the charges confirmed by the PTC I on April 23.
The confirmation set Duterte up for the trial proper, where he is being charged with three counts of murder and attempted murder for masterminding the “common plan” behind the police enforcement of his “war on drugs” which, based on estimates by human rights groups, left up to 30,000 dead.
In an Inquirer interview on Friday, Gilbert Andres, one of the CLRVs in the case, said the victims’ lawyers see the rejection of the defense’s request as a “clear sign that the ICC proceedings have moved on from pretrial towards trial proceedings.”
The victims, he said, were “very thankful” and now look forward to the trial, which will begin with a status conference of both parties on May 27.
New lawyer wants more time
Duterte is bringing in a new team of defense lawyers, with British barrister Peter Haynes as lead and Australian lawyer Kate Gibson as associate counsel.
Haynes, in his first act as Duterte’s lawyer, asked the Trial Chamber III to give the team more time, as long as 19 months, before starting the trial, citing “unresolved factors” that could affect the proceedings.
Human rights lawyer Neri Colmenares, who has been assisting the families of drug war victims, said it was “unacceptable” and “too much” to ask for one and a half years just to study the case of Duterte.
“This [case] is very well documented in so many hearings, he just needs to read them,” Colmenares told Inquirer. “You should not use the change in counsel to delay the trial.”
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