Pre-Trial Chamber of ICC Issues Decision on Verification Process of Witnesses against Duterte
ICC – The International Criminal Court denied the request of former President Rodrigo Duterte’s camp to require a national ID or passport from the witnesses.
Former Pres. Rodrigo Roa Duterte is currently detained in the Hague Penitentiary Institution in Netherlands under the custody of the International Criminal Court. He is faced with an accusation of crime against humanity over his administration’s drug war.
The legal team of former Pres. Rodrigo Roa Duterte is led by British-Israeli lawyer Nicholas Kaufman. French lawyer Dov Jacobs is an associate counsel of the team. No Filipino lawyer is listed as an official counsel of the former President in his ICC trial.
Previously, Duterte’s lead counsel Nicholas Kaufman was accused of not having knowledge about the situation in the Philippines. It came after the British-Israeli Lawyer asked the International Criminal Court for a stricter requirement in the verification of the witnesses against the former President.
Duterte’s camp want the ICC to require a national ID or a Philippine passport with an updated photo from the witnesses. Based on a report on PhilStar, the foreign court has decided on the appeal of the camp of the former President.
Based on the report, the International Criminal Court rejected the request of the camp of former Pres. Rodrigo Roa Duterte to require the witnesses of a national ID or a passport with an “up-to-date photo”. The ICC pre-trial chamber approved the Registry’s proposed list of documents that can be used in the verification process of the identities of the witnesses.
The pre-trial chamber insisted the ICCRegistry had detailed each document sufficiently. It stressed that it already ensures the reliability of the verification process.
“This information, together with the procedure for admission of victims to participate in the proceedings adopted above, already ensures the ‘reliability of the identity verification process and significantly reduces the risk of fraud,” the chamber stated in its order.
Former Pres. Duterte is under the custody of the ICC for more than a month now. He made his initial appearance before the pre-trial chamber of the foreign court last March 15 and he is set for the confirmation of charges scheduled on September 23.
Previously, Duterte’s lead counsel expressed his confidence on their jurisdictional argument over the case. According to him, if it will succeed, there might be no need to get to the confirmation of charges.