ICC prosecutor bucks stricter digital evidence rules

MANILA, Philippines —  The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has opposed a request by the defense team of former president Rodrigo Duterte for stricter protocols in digital evidence presented on trial.

In a six-page response made public yesterday, ICC ad interim prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang described the defense’s request to require an expert report to accompany all forms of open source and user-generated evidence as “unreasonable, unnecessary and against the interests of judicial efficiency.”

“Open source and user-generated evidence are extremely broad categories of documents that capture numerous types of evidence,” Niang wrote.

“As such, whether open source or user-generated evidence requires an accompanying expert report should be determined on case-by-case basis by the submitting party that has the burden of establishing its relevance, probative value and assessing its potential prejudicial effect,” he added.

In his earlier request, defense lawyer Peter Haynes recommended an amendment to e-court protocol that would add an “expert verification” field in digital materials submitted as evidence.

“The current case operates in a uniquely challenging information ecosystem, in which a large volume of misinformation, or ‘fake news’ has circulated, and will continue to circulate, online,” Haynes  said.