BY ASHZEL HACHERO and JOCELYN MONTEMAYOR
THE chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Monday asked the court for authorization to open a full investigation into killings linked to the war on illegal drugs launched by President Duterte in 2016, saying crimes against humanity could have been committed.
Presidential spokesman Harry Roque yesterday said the President “will not cooperate” in the full investigation sought by ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda because the Philippines is no longer a member of the Rome Statute which established the ICC.
The Philippines signed the Rome Statute in 2000 and ratified and endorsed it in 2011.
Duterte announced Manila’s withdrawal from the statute in March 2018 because of “outrageous and baseless attacks” against his administration for its crackdown on illegal drugs.
Under the ICC’s statute, it has jurisdiction for crimes committed while a country was a member until a year after it sought to withdraw, in this case between 2016 and 2019, when the Philippines’ pullout became official.
Also under the statute, the prosecutor must ask judges for permission to open an official investigation into alleged crimes. The tribunal’s judges have up to four months to issue a decision on such a request.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said it finds Bensouda’s decision “deeply regrettable.”
“The Philippine government has taken concrete and progressive steps to address concerns in the conduct of the anti-illegal drugs campaign and has recently finalized with a UN a joint program on human rights. All these affirm the Philippines’ adherence to human rights norms and its long track record of constructive engagement with international and regional partners in human rights promotion and protection,” it added.
Rights groups and critics of the drug killings welcomed a full-scale investigation will they said will bring justice closer for the families of thousands of people killed.
According to government data, security forces have killed at least 6,100 drug dealers in sting operations from the time Duterte took office in 2016 until the end of April this year.
Bensouda posted her request on the ICC website late Monday, in one of her last acts before stepping down yesterday. She will be replaced by British human rights lawyer Karim Khan.
“As I stated in December 2019, at the annual session of the Assembly of States Parties, before I end my term as prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, I intend to reach determinations on all situations that have been under preliminary examination during my tenure, as far as I am able to do so in accordance with my obligations under the Rome Statute,” Bensouda said.
“On the basis of that work, I have determined that there is reasonable basis to believe that the crime against humanity of murder has been committed in the territory of the Philippines between 1 July 2016 to 16 March 2019 in the context of the Government of the Philippines `war on drugs’ campaign,” she added.
The request for judicial authorization was made by Bensouda on May 24 before the ICC pre-trial chamber headed by presiding judge Peter Kovacs and judges Reine Alapini-Gansou and Maria del Socorro Flores Liera.
Under ICC rules, a prosecutor shall request for authorization from the pre-trial chamber if he or she believes there is reasonable basis to proceed with an investigation.
Bensouda’s 57-page public version of her request contained strongly-worded findings, like extrajudicial killings in the Philippines “appear to have been committed pursuant to an official State policy of the Philippine government.”
“Information obtained by the prosecution suggests that state actors, primarily members of the Philippine security forces, killed thousands of suspected drug users and other civilians during official law enforcement operations. Markedly similar crimes were committed outside official police operations reportedly by so-called `vigilantes,’ although information suggests that some vigilantes were in fact police officers, while others were private citizens recruited, coordinated and paid by police to kill civilians,” she added.
Bensouda said it appears that the total number of civilians killed in connection with Manila’s anti-drug crackdown between July 2016 and March 2019 when Duterte formally withdrew the country from the Rome Statute appears to be “between 12,000 and 30,000.”
These numbers contradicted those presented by the PNP and other law enforcement agencies.
An inter-agency panel created last year and headed by the Department of Justice is investigating some 7,000 deaths in police anti-drug operations.
Bensouda said police and other government officials “planned, ordered, and sometimes directly” perpetrated these extrajudicial killings.
“State officials at the highest levels of government also spoke publicly and repeatedly in support of extrajudicial killings, and created a culture of impunity for those who committed them,” Bensouda’s request said, as she also noted Duterte’s statements that he would kill suspected drug dealers and addicts.
Roque maintained the ICC has no jurisdiction over the Philippines or the President since the country is not a part of the ICC and even for purposes of formal investigation, is barred by the principle of complementarity.
He said under that principle, the ICC will not exercise jurisdiction unless the member state is unable or unwilling to prosecute, which he said is not the case in the Philippines because the government is stable and the courts and police system are working.
He reiterated government forces never targeted civilians in its war against illegal drugs and that the deaths were “collateral damage” as those being arrested resisted violently and fought with authorities who, he said, also have the right to defend themselves using reasonable force.
“I believe that the decision to move forward into a formal investigation stage is legally erroneous, politically motivated. It is legally erroneous because in the first place, the ICC has no jurisdiction over the subject matter of crimes against humanity as alleged in her information against President Duterte,” he said.
Roque said the issue is also politically motivated because Bensouda took on the complaint against Duterte to show her fellow Africans that she can file cases also against non-Africans. Bensouda is from Gambia. — With Reuters
