ICC defers decision on Duterte release
The International Criminal Court (ICC) Pre-Trial Chamber I has granted the plea of former President Rodrigo Duterte to delay a ruling on his request for interim release.
“The majority considers it appropriate, in the circumstances, to defer the issuance of its decision on the interim release request until further action is undertaken by the defense on the matter, or until when the chamber will deem it appropriate,” it said in a July 23 ruling available on its website.
But it stressed that “the present decision shall not be construed as prejudging any matter to be determined in the context of the proceedings related to the interim release request, including in its eventual decision thereon.”
The ruling was approved by presiding Judge Iulia Antoanella Motoc and Judge Reine Adélaïde Sophie Alapini-Gansou, with Judge María del Socorro Flores dissenting.
Duterte’s legal team had sought the postponement, saying they needed more time to “[assemble] all information necessary.”
Prosecution’s objection
The former president’s counsel, Nicholas Kaufman, claimed they had been “slow-walked and stymied” since May, and that some “results” were provided to them only “a few days ago.
The prosecution, however, had opposed the defense’s request, arguing that they chose to file their “urgent” application for release prematurely.
“The fact that [REDACTED] was incomplete was known to the defense when it filed its request for interim release. It should not now be entitled to delay the adjudication of this matter simply so that it can supplement its original submission,” it stressed.
Duterte’s lawyers cited the same reason when they also asked the chamber to defer ruling on their petition challenging the ICC’s jurisdiction to try the former president for the killing of more than 6,000 drug suspects during his drug war.
Still in ICC custody
The ICC, meanwhile, said that Duterte remains at the Scheveningen detention center in The Hague.
“I can confirm that there is no change in the status of Mr. Duterte. He is still in the ICC detention center,” Caroline Maurel, outreach officer of the ICC Public Information and Outreach Section, said in a text message to reporters.
Quoting ICC spokesperson Fadi El-Abdallah, Maureal said that if a suspect was released from the chamber’s custody, the court would immediately and officially confirm it to the press.
This came after Duterte’s daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, who is also in The Hague, refused to comment on reports claiming her father had been released.
Instead, she said that while she knew the answer, she was not sure if revealing it was “allowed at [her] level.”
