Lawyers hit harassment of EJK families

MANILA, Philippines —  A group of lawyers and advocates of human rights bewailed yesterday the harassment experienced by families of victims of former president Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody war on drugs, particularly those in The Hague attending the hearings on the confirmation of charges against him.

National Union of People’s Lawyers (NUPL) president Ephraim Cortez said one case of harassment was the circulation on social media of an altered photo showing three family members of drug war victims carrying expensive designer bags. The release of the altered photo was apparently meant to trigger online bashing of the relatives of the victims.

“We already reported that (post) where the photo was altered and claimed they have expensive bags. Apparently, the post was already taken down,” Cortez said.

He said the NUPL filed complaints before the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) against those involved in the spread of the altered photos. He did not reveal details.

Despite the harassment, Cortez said the loved ones of the victims of extrajudicial killings (EJKs) were in high spirits while witnessing the proceedings at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague in the Netherlands.

“They are in high spirits that finally their cases  are now being heard. They know that the attacks against them will continue in the course of their search for justice,” he pointed out.

He said the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber has 60 days to rule whether to confirm or not the charges of crimes against humanity against Duterte.

Cortez also said the prosecution has presented enough information at the hearing on the confirmation of charges to justify the issuance of warrants of arrest on his co-perpetrators.

“There is a big possibility (of issuance of warrants) because if you were able to observe during the presentation, the prosecution mentioned them, proofs regarding public pronouncements, participation in the flow chart, the structure,” Cortez maintained.

Mentioned as co-perpetrators were Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, Sen. Bong Go, former high-ranking police officers Dante Gierran, Isidro Lapeña, Oscar Albayalde, Camilo Cascolan, Vicente Danao ,and lawyer Vitaliano Aguirre II.

“If the confirmation of charges needs to have reasonable ground, the evidence needed is lower for the issuance of a warrant. The evidence presented by the prosecution is enough to convince the ICC to issue warrants of arrest against the co-perpetrators,” Cortez pointed out.

Cortez added that with the available information, nothing would prevent the ICC from issuing warrants of arrest on the co-perpetrators.

“What would happen is that there would be warrants of arrest, and the case against them would only proceed once they are arrested,” he said.

At the same time, Cortez said the ICC is not bound to follow any possible Senate resolution preventing the arrest of Go and Dela Rosa.

“The Senate can always issue that resolution. As far as the ICC is concerned, it is not bound but that is a matter of political will as there would be a head-on coalition between the executive and legislative because the executive is tasked to implement the warrants of arrest while the legislative of the Senate is trying to prevent the implementation of the warrants,” the NUPL president said.