THE prosecution panel has asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) Pre-Trial Chamber 1 to junk the challenge raised by the legal team of former president Rodrigo Duterte questioning the tribunal’s jurisdiction over the Philippines and to hear the crimes against humanity charges filed against him.
In a 35-page filing dated June 10, Deputy Prosecutor Mame Mandiaye said the two arguments raised by Duterte’s team is “fundamentally flawed.”
Duterte’s legal team, in its 38-page petition, has argued that the Rome Statute makes the tribunal’s jurisdiction on the Philippines conditional on the latter’s status as a State Party not only when the alleged crimes were committed but also when the tribunal’s exercise of jurisdiction started or was exercised.
The Rome Statute is the treaty that established the ICC.
The Philippines become a State Party to the Statute in 2011, but Duterte withdrew from it in 2018. The withdrawal was formalized in 2019.
Duterte’s team has also argued that the governing withdrawals from the Statute deprived the tribunal jurisdiction over the case.
Mandiaye said the defense’s arguments should be dismissed, saying it has no basis as it misinterpreted the relevant provisions of the Statute.
“The Chamber should follow and as necessary elaborate upon its own reasoning in issuing the warrant for Duterte’s arrest and the reasoning of the Pre-Trial Chamber in its former composition in authorizing the investigation of the situation in the Philippines,” Mandiaye said.
These are the same arguments raised by former ICC Office of the Prosecutor Karim Khan who said the tribunal retains jurisdiction over the Philippines since the crimes investigated and for which Duterte was tried took place from 2011, when he was still mayor of Davao City, and prior to Manila’s withdrawal from the ICC in 2018.
In issuing the warrant against the 80-year old Duterte, the Pre-Trial Chamber said it found enough evidence to hold him accountable for the alleged crimes committed during his administration’s bloody crackdown on illegal drugs.
Earlier, the ICC Office of Public Counsel for the Victims (OPCV) formally requested the chamber to dismiss the defense’s jurisdiction challenge, saying it has no basis.
OPCV Paolina Massida said that the wording of Articles 12 and 127 of the Rome Statute is crystal clear that the Philippines’ withdrawal from the Statute has no legal effect upon the already established jurisdiction of the court, especially since the prosecutor’s preliminary examination commenced before the withdrawal became effective.
