DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 29 November) – A group of Mindanawon lawyers welcomed the decision of the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) denying the appeal of former President Rodrigo R. Duterte for interim release, calling it a “crucial and indispensable preliminary victory” for the victims and survivors of the bloody “war on drugs” of the previous administration.
“This is not the end of the quest for accountability, but it is a powerful, irreversible stride forward. The denial of interim release keeps the accountability door wide open, validating the long and arduous struggle of the victims’ movement,” the Union of Peoples’ Lawyers in Mindanao (UPLM) said in a statement Saturday.
The former President has been charged with crimes against humanity of murder and attempted murder, committed between November 2011 and March 2019.
The lawyers’ group said the ICC’s judgment “prioritizes justice and safeguards the integrity of the judicial process over political maneuvering.”
“The ruling irrefutably confirms the ICC’s assessment that Mr. Duterte’s continued detention is absolutely necessary to effectively mitigate the manifest and persistent risks he poses to the security of victims and potential witnesses, and to prevent the obstruction of the judicial proceedings he has historically sought to undermine,” it added.
On Friday, the Appeals Chamber of the ICC upheld the 26 September decision of Pre-Trial Chamber 1, which denied the request of Duterte for interim release, ruling that his continued detention was necessary and that the proposed conditions “were not sufficient to mitigate the risks it found in relation to Mr Duterte’s interim release.”
In challenging the earlier decision of Pre-Trial Chamber 1, Duterte’s defense team questioned the finding that he was a flight risk, argued that the chamber erred in rejecting the guarantees offered by the State willing to receive him, and claimed it erred in law by failing to consider humanitarian considerations in assessing his right to interim release.
The Court, however, unanimously denied all three grounds of appeal.
“After examining the arguments raised in the appeal brief, the Appeals Chamber found that the Defense failed to identify errors in the Pre-Trial Chamber’s reasoning or to demonstrate that the Pre-Trial Chamber’s conclusions were unreasonable,” the Court stated.
The UPLM believed that the Court “saw past these legal challenges, underscoring the gravity of the charges and the absolute imperative for full cooperation with international justice mechanisms.”
“For the thousands of families who have endured years of unimaginable grief, pervasive impunity, and paralyzing fear, this decision delivers a crucial measure of assurance. No individual, regardless of their past office, political stature, or power, stands above the scrutiny of international law when alleged to have committed the most serious crimes,” it said.
The UPLM called on the ICC to proceed with utmost urgency and without further delay with the confirmation of charges hearing and the arrest of Duterte’s co-perpetrators, saying that “every single day of procedural delay is an extended denial of justice for victims who have waited too long.”
On 8 September, Pre-Trial Chamber I postponed the commencement of the confirmation hearing, which was initially scheduled to start on the 23rd of that month, following the request from Duterte’s legal team for an indefinite adjournment of the proceedings, alleging that he is “not fit to stand trial.” (Antonio L. Colina IV/MindaNews)
