Atty. Neri Colmenares Speaks on Jurisdiction Argument of Duterte’s Camp
NERI COLMENARES – The lawyer who represents the alleged victims of the Duterte war on drugs campaign spoke on the jurisdiction argument of the camp of former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte.
Vice Pres. Sara Duterte is still in The Hague, Netherlands now as she sets the legal team of former Pres. Rodrigo Roa Duterte in his trial before the International Criminal Court. His legal team will be led by British-Israeli lawyer Nicholas Kaufman.
Previously, Vice Pres. Duterte announced that Harry Roque and Salvador Medialdea won’t be part of the ICC legal team of former Pres. Duterte. It is contrary to the previous claim of the former Presidential Spokesman that he will be part of Duterte’s legal team.
Harry Roque claimed that he will file for asylum in the Netherlands to defend Duterte. However, according to Vice Pres. Duterte, they want the members of her father’s legal team to really focus on the case of the former President. As for Roque, she stressed that he must focus on his application for asylum.
Recently, lawyer Nicholas Kaufman expressed his confident on the jurisdictional argument of their camp. According to Duterte’s lead counsel, he believes that the jurisdictional argument should succeed and he will be disappointed if it won’t.
Kaufman expressed his hope to be able to convince the judges that the ICC allegedly has no jurisdiction in the country. According to the British-Israeli lawyer, in case it happens, there might be no need to reach the confirmation of charges phase which is set on September 23.
However, according to Filipino lawyer Neri Colmenares, the jurisdictional argument is expected in the case of former Pres. Rodrigo Roa Duterte before the ICC. Colmenares is one of the lawyers representing the alleged victims of Duterte’s drug war.
Based on a report on Inquirer, Neri Colmenares claimed that there is no other way that the legal team of former Pres. Rodrigo Roa Duterte can defend him except the jurisdictional argument.
“There is no other way to defend former Pres. Duterte except on jurisdiction,” Colmenares said.
According to the Filipino lawyer, when the trial takes place, it would be hard for lawyer Nicholas Kaufman to defend the former President against the “surmounting” evidence against him.
“They will have to argue on jurisdiction because if the charges are confirmed and this goes to trial they will not be able to surmount the evidence that Pres. Duterte ordered the killings of many people in his war on drugs,” he expressed.
Amid the legal proceedings, former Pres. Rodrigo Roa Duterte asked his supporters to let his lawyers and the Court decide on what is going to happen next. Through VP Sara, he extended his request for his supporters not to talk about his ICC case.