MANILA: A pretrial chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) is reviewing the application of 500 more individuals who are seeking participation in the crimes against humanity case against former President Rodrigo Duterte.
According to a four-page document dated Feb 9, the ICC Registry, which provides judicial support to The Hague-based tribunal, submitted to the Pre-Trial Chamber (PTC) I additional 227 applications comprising 500 individuals who wish to be recognised in the case as victims for the irreparable harm they suffered from the crimes allegedly committed.
These cover those who were “indirectly” affected by the drug war waged by Duterte, which resulted in the merciless killings of up to 30,000 people based on estimates from human rights watchdogs.
Official records, however, only put the death toll at about 60,000.
Duterte is charged with three counts of murder as a crime against humanity for being an alleged indirect coperpetrator in a scheme that supposedly rewarded the killings.
The latest review of victims’ applications in the case comes after the PTC I last month authorised the participation of an initial batch of 39 victims, broken down as: 19 victims from Group and 10 victims from Group C.
Newly appointed Filipino common legal representatives of victims, namely Joel Butuyan and Gilbert Andres, will represent them in the four-day confirmation of charges hearing slated to begin on Feb 23, where Duterte is also expected to be in attendance.
The victims, however, will not have an active role yet at this stage of the proceedings as witnesses are also not expected to be presented, lawyers familiar to the ICC proceedings earlier said.
During the hearings, the defense as well as the prosecution will have an opportunity to present their defence and arguments, while victims’ lawyers will also have a chance to submit its merits to the case.
As part of the pretrial proceedings, the confirmation of charges hearing will determine whether there is sufficient basis to believe that Duterte may have committed the alleged crimes.
If charges are confirmed, the case will proceed to trial.
Meanwhile, the PTC I has granted the request of the Duterte camp to add 78 items to its list of evidence that it would rely on during the hearing.
These, Duterte’s lawyers said, were “potentially exculpatory or could be material to the presentation of the defence.”
The new set of evidence came from the more than 1,200 items of evidence disclosed by the prosecution to the defence from Sept 11 to Jan 29, the defense noted.
The prosecution also requested the inclusion of two more pieces of evidence, to which the chamber also allowed. - Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN
