Duterte’s case to proceed ‘sooner’ – ICC prosecutor

MANILA, Philippines — Despite several challenges to the ongoing proceedings, a deputy prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) expects the case against former president Rodrigo Duterte to proceed to confirmation hearings “sooner than previous cases.”

Although the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I postponed Duterte’s confirmation of charges hearing originally scheduled on Sept. 23, ICC deputy prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang is expecting it to push through in the coming months.

“It is likely that this case will still proceed to the hearing on the confirmation of charges sooner than previous cases before this Court,” Niang wrote in a filing dated Sept. 29.

He provided reasons for this projection, but these details were redacted in the public version of the filing.

The ICC deputy prosecutor cited two cases wherein the confirmation of charges hearing took about a year since the first appearance hearings of the suspects.

Duterte’s first appearance before the tribunal was on March 14, days after he was arrested in the Philippines and turned over to the ICC. He has been detained at the ICC Detention Center in The Hague.

Niang was responding to the defense’s recent assertion that Duterte should be granted interim release while proceedings for his fitness are underway.

The ICC deputy prosecutor maintained that “Duterte, if granted interim release, would be a flight risk, is likely to interfere with the proceedings, and may commit further crimes.”

He accused the defense, led by Nicholas Kaufman, of “unnecessarily (delaying) the proceedings by waiting until five months after Mr. Duterte’s initial appearance… to file its challenge regarding his fitness to stand trial,” said the deputy ICC prosecutor.

Last August, Kaufman claimed that the former president was unfit to stand trial and sought to terminate the proceedings.