COUNSELS for former President Rodrigo Duterte has formally challenged the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) jurisdiction over alleged crimes against humanity tied to his administration’s war on drugs.
In a 38-page filing dated May 1, defense lawyers Nicholas Kaufman and Dov Jacobs argued that the preconditions for the ICC’s jurisdiction were not satisfied when its Pre-Trial Chamber authorized an investigation on September 15, 2021.
“The Republic of the Philippines was no longer a State Party to the Rome Statute at that critical point in time,” the defense motion stated, referring to the country’s withdrawal from the treaty that created the ICC.
The ICC prosecutor has previously maintained that the Court retains jurisdiction over alleged crimes committed while the Philippines was still a member of the Rome Statute.
In a submission to the Appeals Chamber on April 4, 2023, the prosecution noted: “That the Philippines was not a State Party when the investigation was opened is immaterial and does not deprive the Court of jurisdiction over crimes allegedly committed during the temporal scope of the investigation.”
The Philippines officially withdrew from the Rome Statute on March 17, 2019, a year after then-ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda opened a preliminary examination into the Duterte administration’s anti-drug campaign.
In a 2021 statement, Bensouda said the Court retains jurisdiction over alleged crimes committed while the Philippines was still a party to the treaty and emphasized that such crimes are not subject to any statute of limitations.
However, Duterte’s defense team now argues that all actions taken in the case are legally baseless. “The Defence requests the Pre-Trial Chamber find that there is no legal basis for the continuation of the proceedings against Mr. Rodrigo Roa Duterte and to order his immediate and unconditional release,” their filing said.
Duterte is currently detained at the ICC Detention Centre in The Hague, following his arrest in March.