ICC junks Rodrigo Duterte’s plea to postpone first look

Judges Reine Alapini-Gansou, Iulia Antoanella Motoc and Socorro Flores Liera of the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber 1 —PHOTOS BY MARIANNE BERMUDEZ, ICC SCREEN GRAB

MANILA, Philippines — The Worldwide Prison Courtroom (ICC) has junked former President Rodrigo Duterte’s plea to reschedule his first court docket look.

Duterte’s authorized counsel and former Govt Secretary Salvador Medialdea made this identified in his manifestation in the course of the pretrial on Friday evening (Philippine time).

“I repeat my respectful request, which was rejected this morning to postpone the substantive facet of this listening to to the following week when I’ll have the chance to take a seat with my consumer and to elucidate to him what the affirmation listening to is and what disclosure is and the way the prosecution alleges that he dedicated crimes. I thank the court docket for its consideration and remorse to say that I don’t have directions to proceed my submission any additional at present,” Medialdea stated.

Nonetheless, Iulia Antoanella Motoc, presiding decide of The ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I, stated there isn’t any have to postpone the preliminary look because it doesn’t want “a lot preparation.”

“Now, counsel, with regard to your request for an additional listening to to be held subsequent week, effectively, your preliminary request that was, this was not accepted by the court docket. Now, you may have seen the 2 choices of the court docket which were disclosed to you, and you’re conscious of the truth that these two choices had been refused. And that is tied into the truth that this primary preliminary look listening to doesn’t want a lot preparation, as I’ve stated to you on quite a few events,” Motoc instructed Medialdea.

Motoc defined it is because Friday’s “listening to is neither the beginning of the trial neither is it a affirmation of fees listening to. Throughout at present’s listening to, no proof will probably be collected or introduced, and the problems of Mr. Duterte’s guilt or innocence will subsequently not be addressed.”

Motoc additionally stated Article 61 of the Rome Statute — the ICC’s founding treaty — and Rule 1211 of the Guidelines of Process and Proof state that the primary function of the preliminary look is to reply three questions.

“Firstly, the Chamber should make sure that the one who was the topic of the arrest warrant has been knowledgeable of the crimes of which he’s accused. Second, the Chamber should make sure that this individual has been knowledgeable of his rights as acknowledged by the Rome Statute,” she defined.

“Third, the Chamber should set a date on which it intends to carry a affirmation of fees listening to. The Chamber notes that your counsel, Mr. Duterte, filed two motions, one in relation with at present’s listening to, and you might remember that these two motions haven’t been accepted by the Chamber due to the character of at present’s listening to. No additional dialogue on the matter is important throughout this listening to, as a result of, as I stated at an earlier stage, the goal of this listening to at present is to introduce the events and to determine the costs and to set a date for the affirmation of fees listening to at a later stage,” she added.

The ICC set Duterte’s affirmation of fees on September 23, 2025.

Motoc stated there can be no trial if the costs in opposition to Duterte weren’t confirmed, and earlier than the trial Duterte can file a petition for interim launch.

Duterte attended the pretrial through video hyperlink.

The 79-year-old Duterte, clad in a blue go well with and tie, sounded frail when he spoke briefly to substantiate his identify and date of start.

READ: ICC units Duterte affirmation of fees listening to Sept. 23

He was the topic of an arrest warrant from the ICC over crimes in opposition to humanity allegedly dedicated within the Philippines between November 1, 2011 and March 16 2019. The Philippines was nonetheless a celebration to the Rome Statute throughout this era.

In March 2018, Duterte declared the Philippines’ withdrawal from the Rome Statute, however the withdrawal took impact a 12 months after or in March 2019, so the ICC retained jurisdiction over alleged crimes within the Philippines primarily based on the time when the nation was nonetheless a member.

The battle in opposition to unlawful medication that came about in the course of the Duterte administration claimed a minimum of 6,000 lives, in accordance with official authorities information.

Nonetheless, human rights watchdogs and the ICC prosecutor estimated the dying toll to be between 12,000 and 30,000 from 2016 to 2019. They stated a number of of those instances had been extrajudicial killings.