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Former president Rodrigo Duterte attends first ICC hearing via videolink.
Philippine Star / Facebook page
MANILA, Philippines — The prosecution in the International Criminal Court (ICC) against detained former President Rodrigo Duterte submitted pieces of evidence before the Pre-Trial Chamber I.
In a document dated May 5, Prosecutor Karim Khan said that the prosecution revealed 139 pieces of evidence before the pre-trial chamber on April 30. It is organized into “four disclosure packages.”
The disclosed items include documentary material cited in the arrest warrant against the former president, according to the document.
The first package contains 28 items labeled as “contextual elements,” while the second package lists 85 items under “modes of liability.”
The third package contains 1 item listed about a murder in Davao City during Duterte’s tenure as mayor.
The fourth package disclosed contains 15 items listed, which are about the murders in the Barangay Clearance Operations during his tenure as president.
On May 1, Duterte, through his lawyers Nicholas Kaufman and Dov Jacobs, challenged the tribunal's jurisdiction, saying that there is no legal basis for the continuation of the proceedings as the Philippines was no longer a state party to the Rome Statute.
“The jurisdictional framework of the Rome Statute is clear: a State must be a State Party at the time of the exercise of jurisdiction,” Duterte’s lawyers said.
The hearing for the confirmation of charges against Duterte will be on September 23.
Charges against Duterte. The charges against the former president are crimes against humanity, which involve at least 43 cases of killings attributed to the Davao Death Squad and police actions during his presidency.
These incidents reportedly occurred between Nov. 1, 2011, and March 16, 2019.
The former president’s controversial anti-drug campaign resulted in a government-reported death toll of 6,000. However, human rights groups estimate the figure could be as high as 30,000, with many victims being small-time drug users and pushers.
