Months before ICC trial, Duterte wants prosecution to refile cases vs him

Photo by Karl Alonzo

Former president Rodrigo Duterte wants the prosecution to refile a document that 'frames the charges in terms of counts with a defined scope, being crimes under the ICC Statute'

MANILA, Philippines – Just a few months before his scheduled historic trial, former president Rodrigo Duterte asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) Trial Chamber III to order the prosecution to refile the cases against him.

“The [defense] accordingly requests the Trial Chamber to order the prosecution to re-file a document before the Pre-Trial Chamber that frames the charges in terms of counts with a defined scope, being crimes under the ICC Statute, and with an exhaustive list of underpinning acts, which represent the entirety of the charges against the accused,” said the Duterte camp’s motion dated August 31.

In the motion, Duterte’s lead counsel Peter Haynes argued that the prosecution’s document containing the charges or DCC “is not fit for [its] purpose” and should be struck out.

This is the Duterte camp’s latest bid to challenge his case before the ICC after recent legal defeats.

Just last April, the ICC pre-trial chamber confirmed all three counts of Duterte’s crimes against humanity case, thus sending him to trial that will start in November.

Even on the issue of jurisdiction or whether the ICC was the right platform for the cases, Duterte did not score a win. The ICC Appeals Chamber junked his jurisdiction challenge and cleared the way for the trial.

The latest defeat was in May, when the pre-trial chamber denied Duterte’s request to appeal the ruling that confirmed his ICC cases.

In their August 31 motion, the Duterte camp said the prosecution’s DCC was framed around “illustrative non-exhaustive incidents.” They argued that the way the charges were framed violated Duterte’s right to be informed in detail of the nature, cause, and content of the charges against him under 67(1)(a) of the Rome Statute.

They said the only effective remedy to this is for the prosecution to refile the charges that properly inform Duterte about his case.

According to the defense, the prosecution’s decision to frame the charges that way makes it impossible for Duterte to know what case he has to meet at the upcoming trial.

“The Prosecution’s desire and intention to add further incidents is noteworthy as it plainly indicates that the Prosecution, at least, does not believe that it needs to prove all or most of the incidents. However, with a trial due to start in three months, the [defense] has no idea what is regarded as necessary proof of a ‘count’ on this DCC,” said the motion.

Duterte’s camp further argued that the prosecution’s charge document — which has broad topical headings rather than charged crimes — would allegedly be unacceptable in any criminal jurisdiction.

“The accused cannot even begin to make strategic decisions about how to approach this case, because he does not know what case he has to meet. The Duterte charges are a literal moving target; a non-exhaustive, illustrative list of events whose proof beyond reasonable doubt may or may not trigger liability for thousands of others, and whose evidential value remains entirely unclear,” the camp added. – Rappler.com