ICC prosecutors present additional 1,062 pieces of evidence

MANILA, Philippines — Prosecutors of the International Criminal Court (ICC) have disclosed over 1,000 pieces of evidence to the defense team of former president Rodrigo Duterte.

In a four-page communication dated July 1, ICC deputy prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang informed pre-trial judges that additional 1,062 items were disclosed to Duterte’s defense team on June 27.

This was the 11th and, so far, the largest batch of evidence disclosed to Duterte’s team. Over 1,400 items have been collectively disclosed in the first 10 batches.

These were part of the evidence disclosure process required of the ICC Office of the Prosecutor ahead of the hearing on confirmation of charges against the former president in September.

It was unclear if more evidence had been disclosed, but an earlier Pre-Trial Chamber directive gave the prosecutors only until July 1 to disclose all evidence related to the confirmation of charges hearing.

The latest batch of evidence was divided into 10 thematic categories, including Davao death squad killings (seven items), barangay clearance operations (435 items), high value targets (64 items), modes of liability (86 items) and two sets of contextual elements (50 and 101 items, respectively).

One set contains “information that suggests a line of defense” (six items), while the remaining three sets were materials for the preparation of the defense (26,240 and 47 items).

Under ICC’s process, evidence disclosure is necessary to ensure that a suspect is accorded due process.

In an earlier filing, ICC prosecutor Karim Khan – currently on leave – said they were still in the process of determining the overall quantity of written and non-written documentary evidence that they would present during the hearing.

But at the minimum, he said these would include the majority of the evidence cited in the original application for an arrest warrant against the former president.

These include 8,565 pages comprising 421 pieces of written evidence, nine photographs and 30 audio-visual files with a total running time of 15 hours and 55 minutes.

Victims have cited the large amount of evidence disclosed to Duterte as among the reasons why his interim release should not be granted.

“Mr. Duterte has already access to a large amount of evidence, including the identities of some of the Prosecution’s witnesses, which poses a risk for the security and well-being of said individuals,” said Paolina Massidda, principal counsel of the ICC’s Office of Public Counsel for Victims, in a filing that opposed Duterte’s interim request release.