ICC prosecution confident Duterte case will move to trial

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – The prosecution of the International Criminal Court (ICC) was confident that it will be able to confirm the charges against former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte and move the case to trial.

“I’d like to thank [Nicholas Kaufman] for his submissions, because everything he said literally this morning showed why this case should go to trial and that we have met the standard of substantial grounds for confirmation,” said trial lawyer Julian Nicholls, who delivered the closing argument for the prosecution on Friday, February 27, or the last day of the proceedings.

The threshold at this stage was “substantial grounds to believe” that Duterte committed crimes against humanity. The pre-trial chamber has 60 days to decide whether it will indeed move to trial.

According to Nicholls, the issues raised by Kaufman, including discrediting witnesses, were matters that need to be discussed at trial.

“The types of issues he raised today and yesterday — in this incident, the first witness says X, the second witness says Y. That’s what gets sorted out at trial,” said Nicholls.

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Kaufman had a chance to respond to this and said it was unfair if the judges were to keep Duterte detained “for years to come” just because they agreed that the issues the defense raised were better heard at trial.

“All it boils down to is a plea that, well, ‘Kaufman’s pointed out a few problems, let’s just leave it for the trial judges to sort out.’ And for that, he’s quite happy to let Mr. Duterte fester in detention for years to come. In the United States, they call that kicking the can down the road,” said Kaufman.

President’s rhetoric

“I’m very optimistic [that charges won’t be confirmed.] Maganda ang presentation ni Attorney Kaufman (Attorney Kaufman’s presentation was good)…. It’s very clear that words cannot kill, so the statements attributed to the President, ‘yun ang ginagamit na ang pagpatay ay sa kanya (those being used against him to say the murders are his), which is not true,” said Duterte’s former labor secretary, Silvestre Bello.

Kaufman’s main defense was that there supposedly was no causal link or direct linkage from Duterte’s words to the dead bodies. Lawyers have commented that crimes against humanity cases do not require such direct linkage.

“He said there was no direct evidence that even two of the co-perpetrators met in person to discuss the plan, the common plan. Legally, there’s no requirement that they do so,” said Nicholls.

Deputy Prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang said that Duterte’s many public speeches about killing, or ordering to kill, were what made this case “peculiar.”

“It’s not always that you have…self-confessed crimes of this magnitude,” Niang told Rappler.

“This is also an image that shows that, you know, don’t be overconfident because the wheel of justice may be slow, but at one point they can catch up with you. And then, all the statements you made, I think that, you know, they will really be your own evidence against you,” said Niang.

In an earlier interview, Professor Leila Sadat of the Washington University School of Law, who was crimes against humanity adviser to the chief prosecutor, said that Duterte’s public confessions were “what a prosecutor would dream of getting” to be able to confirm charges.

“It’s time for him to take responsibility for these crimes he brags about and glories in,” said Nicholls. – Rappler.com