LIVESTREAM: Rodrigo Duterte faces ICC for the first time

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Duterte will be assisted by Salvador Medialdea for now, and the ICC's appointed defense counsel

MANILA, Philippines – Former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, who’s detained at the Scheveningen prison in The Hague, faces the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the first time on Friday, March 14, or three days after his stunning arrest at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila.

In this initial appearance, judges will read the charges to him and confirm he is indeed Rodrigo Duterte. The confirmation of charges hearing is another schedule, and only after that can trial begin. Duterte is charged as an indirect perpetrator of systematic killings in the war on drugs, and by the Davao Death Squad. The murders, the prosecution said, constitute crimes against humanity.

Duterte has requested that his former executive secretary, Salvador Medialdea, assist him in the proceedings which the ICC has allowed. Medialdea is not an ICC-accredited counsel, so the Court also secured Duterte’s consent for someone from its Office of Public Counsel for the Defence to assist him too.

Watch this livestream from The Hague. – Rappler.com