ICC requires Duterte to attend trial proper

MANILA, Philippines — Former president Rodrigo Duterte will be required to attend the entirety of his trial for crimes against humanity before the International Criminal Court (ICC).

At the start of his case’s fifth status conference yesterday, Trial Chamber III Presiding Judge Joanna Korner said Duterte was allowed to skip the pre-trial hearing “as it was not likely to be a lengthy” proceeding.

But she told Duterte’s lawyer Peter Haynes that once the actual trial starts, the judges “expect (his) attendance on a daily basis.”

Haynes answered in the affirmative and expressed gratitude to the judges for allowing Duterte to skip the pre-trial hearing.

The former president appeared in person during the third and fourth status conferences held on Sept. 16 and Oct. 13, respectively.

However, he requested to waive his appearance for yesterday’s hearing, the last before the start of his trial on Nov. 30.

Immediately after the opening of the hearing, the court went on private session to discuss matters relating to the upcoming trial.

It was unclear what was discussed during the closed session, but the agenda included the daily schedule for the trial, the audio-visual link testimony of the victims and the rights of the audience, the list of witnesses and the number of hours for the prosecution’s evidence and potentially exculpatory evidence.

Also discussed were applications on prior recorded testimonies, in-court protective measures and security of defense missions.

During the status conference, Korner announced the revised schedule for Duterte’s trial happening this year.

The schedule will be daily from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 4 p.m.

The regular breaks were upon the advice of medical experts who examined the former president.

Meanwhile, the court disallowed the request of Paolina Massidda, one of the common legal representatives of the victims, to use Tagalog in portions of their opening statement.

“There will be interpretation and we’ll make sure… that a translation into Tagalog, a transcript will be produced,” Korner said, noting that only English and French are recognized as official languages of the court.

For the defense, the judge allowed them to outline Duterte’s position at the start of the case.