Duterte’s Camp Seeks Disqualification of ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan from Case
ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan insisted that there is “no conflict of interest” in his response to the appeal of the camp of former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte to disqualify him.
The arrest and the transfer of custody of former Pres. Rodrigo Roa Duterte to the International Criminal Court caused political turmoil in the Philippine government. Many Duterte supporters not only in the Philippines but as well as abroad also call for the return of the former Chief Executive.
Amid his ICC detention for more than five (5) months now, Kitty Duterte claimed that former Pres. Rodrigo Duterte now has “long white beard, white eyebrows, and blonde hair”. Several allies of the former President in the Senate filed resolutions calling for a house arrest for him citing his health, his old age, and his prolonged social isolation.
The confirmation of charges against former Pres. Rodrigo Duterte is set on September 23. Ahead of it, the former President’s camp sought for the disqualification of ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan.
The lead counsel of former Pres. Rodrigo Roa Duterte, British-Israeli lawyer Nicholas Kaufman, claimed that ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan allegedly committed a “grievous conflict of interest” for not disclosing his part as a legal counsel for the victims prior to taking the post at the Prosecutor’s Office.
The ICC Prosecutor was the one who ordered the arrest of former Pres. Rodrigo Duterte. He reportedly handled the last stage of the investigation of the former President’s drug war.
“Mr. Khan abused the criminal process to push forward an investigation in which he had an undeclared personal interest, or at the very least an undeclared personal obligation from which he had not sought to release himself,” Duterte’s lawyer stated.
Recently, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan responded to the plea of the camp of former Pres. Rodrigo Roa Duterte. Based on a report on Inquirer, Khan claimed in his notification to the Pre-Trial Chamber that there is allegedly no grounds for him to be disqualified from the case against the former Chief Executive.
“The Prosecutor files this Notification in order to advise PTC I (Pre-Trial Chamber 1) that the Prosecutor has carefully considered whether the circumstances summarised above give rise to any grounds for disqualification and that he does not consider that any grounds for disqualification currently exist,” the Khan stated.
The ICC Prosecutor also stated that there is allegedly “no conflict of interest” in accordance with rule 33. Based on the report, he recalled that in June 2018, he was one of the members of the legal team that represented over 100 alleged victims of the Duterte drug war and they filed a submission to former Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda.
“The Prosecutor was not directly involved in investigations or interviewing any victim or witness, but participated pro bono in reviewing and presenting the submission to the then Prosecutor Bensouda. Mr Khan withdrew from the matter and ceased any involvement shortly thereafter,” the ICC Prosecutor said.
The camp of former Pres. Duterte has yet to issue a statement over the response of Khan to their allegations. Previously, it was confirmed that former Pres. Rodrigo Duterte’s lawyer had past ties with former First Lady Imelda Marcos.