MANILA, Philippines — Former president Rodrigo Duterte will remain in detention in The Hague ahead of his trial for crimes against humanity before the International Criminal Court (ICC), judges ruled on Friday.
In an eight-page decision dated May 22, the ICC Trial Chamber III said there was no notable change in circumstance that would justify Duterte’s release, either with or without conditions.
The judges stressed that the recent confirmation of charges against Duterte even “increases the risk that an accused may abscond and is therefore not a change in circumstances that militates in favor of conditional release, but rather one supporting continued detention.”
They said Duterte’s refusal to attend his confirmation hearing in February and his statement that he does not recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC, “demonstrates at its lowest that the Accused will not comply with any orders that might be made in respect of a release from custody.”
“Taken together with his access to vast resources and contacts, including his family and supporters in the Philippines who may assist him in evading justice, the chamber finds that… there is a real and substantial risk that the Accused could nonetheless abscond or obstruct justice either on his own or through his associates,” read the eight-page decision.
The trial chamber also rejected arguments from Duterte’s camp that his supposed deteriorating health condition justified his release.
Nicholas Kaufman, Duterte’s former defense counsel, earlier argued that the former president’s physical condition constituted a change in circumstance that could warrant conditional release.
However, the judges pointed to findings by court-appointed medical experts, saying their reports “do not contain any information that warrants modifying the Accused’s detention.”
“The Chamber further observes that the defense’s and the registry’s observations do not present information that constitute new facts or a change in circumstances in comparison to the information provided in the panel’s reports,” the judges added.
A law expert from the University of the Philippines College of Law welcomed the ICC ruling, saying it was consistent with the tribunal’s handling of detention cases.
“The ICC decision not to allow his release and that he will remain in detention is actually in line with the ICC’s decision on other accused in their detention centers. There is indeed a possibility that former president Rodrigo Duterte will become a flight risk… The evasion of arrest by Sen. dela Rosa is another factual circumstance that perhaps in the eyes of the international community there is an active effort to evade any process for international accountability,” UP College of Law senior lecturer and ICC assistant to counsel Ross Tugade said in an interview with dzMM.
“We welcome at least the decision to have him remain in detention because the ultimate goal, at least for us, (is to) really see the progress of the process before the ICC,” Tugade added.
Meanwhile, in a separate order, the trial judges allowed Duterte to skip his case’s first status conference scheduled on May 27.
Duterte’s defense team earlier filed the request, saying that the mandatory obligation for an accused to be present at trial does not apply to other hearings such as status conferences that are “essentially administrative in nature.”
“The Chamber authorizes the request and orders the defense to file on the record a signed waiver by the Accused, bearing in mind the requirements provided for in the statutory framework,” the judges said. — Bella Cariaso