Sara’s claim pa was ‘kidnapped’ used to block Du30 release bid
Recent media statements issued by Vice President Sara Duterte questioning her father’s arrest have added to the arguments prosecutors use to oppose his bid for temporary liberty as a detainee of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The ICC Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) again registered its objection to former President Rodrigo Duterte’s request for interim release, citing his daughter’s insistence that his arrest in Manila in March was a ‘’kidnapping.”
In an eight-page document posted on the ICC website on Sept. 12, Deputy Prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang cited the Vice President’s interviews and public statements while in The Hague, the Netherlands, rejecting the court’s jurisdiction over the case and the legitimacy of its proceedings.
Niang included statements Sara Duterte made on July 19 when she addressed a crowd of supporters and gave interviews to claim that her father was kidnapped by the international tribunal and that his arrest was “illegal.”
Accusation vs Dutch gov’t
The deputy prosecutor also recalled the Vice President saying “supposedly in jest” that she had “discussed” a plan with a colleague to help her father escape.
Niang also mentioned a livestream video on Facebook where Sara Duterte called on someone to “collaborate on a jailbreak.”
In a speech also on July 19, Sara “falsely claimed that the ICC was ‘colluding’” with the Philippine government and that “fake witnesses” had been paid to testify against her father, he added.
“She also blamed the Government of the Netherlands for having joined the ‘extraordinary rendition’ of Mr. Duterte, and blamed the ICC for accepting Mr. Duterte ‘with open arms’ despite having been ‘kidnapped from his own land,’” Niang said in the OTP’s opposition.
Niang also recalled an Aug. 19 statement by Sara Duterte conveying her father’s wish to return to his hometown, Davao City, where he was elected in absentia as mayor in the May elections. (One of his sons, Sebastian, was elected vice mayor and had since served as acting mayor.)
He brought up that statement to remind the court that the former president once promised to “double” the drug war killings should he be elected mayor again.
‘Warning vs interference’
“Mr. Duterte’s desire to return to Davao City, if granted interim release, echoes his family’s stated intention to ensure his return to the Philippines,” the OTP said. “These examples demonstrate a pattern of the Duterte family refusing to accept the legitimacy of the legal proceedings against Mr. Duterte and should mitigate against granting the interim release.”
Allowing the Duterte to again interact with family and close associates “could increase the likelihood of interference with the case against him,” Niang also warned.
In an application filed in August but made public only on Sept. 11, Duterte’s defense lawyer, Nicolas Kauffman, requested the indefinite of adjournment of proceedings, claiming the 80-year-old ex-president was already having “cognitive deficiencies,” making him unfit to stand trial.
On Monday, the ICC reset Duterte’s confirmation of charges hearing that was originally scheduled for Sept. 23. The court has yet to announce a new date for what would be Duterte’s second hearing since his arrest.
