The International Criminal Court (ICC) rejected the challenge to its jurisdiction over crimes against humanity charges against former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte.
In a 32-page decision released on Thursday, October 23, the ICC asserted its power to investigate Duterte for his alleged mass murder of civilians from 2011 to 2019 when the Philippines was still a signatory to The Rome Statute.
“A State shall not be discharged, by reason of its withdrawal, from the obligations arising from this Statute while it was a Party to the Statute, including any financial obligations which may have accrued,” the treaty’s Article 127 reads.
As such, the Chamber said it rejects the defense’s challenge to its jurisdiction, as well as Duterte’s request to postpone the issuance of the decision.
The verdict was made by presiding judge Iulia Antoanella Motoc and member judges Reine Adelaide Sophie Alapini-Gansou and Maria del Socorro Flores Liera.
Duterte’s camp maintained since his arrest in April this year that the ICC could not prosecute Duterte since the Philippines, under his presidency, has withdrawn membership from The Rome Statute.
Duterte is facing at least 49 charges of mass murder of suspected drurg personalities as Davao City mayor and Philippine president, although complainants and rights groups his victims may be tens of thousands.
Duterte was ordered arrested earlier this year and is now imprisoned at ICC’s detention center at The Hague’s Scheveningen district in The Netherlands. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
The first and last pages of the 32-page ICC decision rejecting the challenge to its jurisdiction over former president Rodrigo Duterte’s crimes against humanity charges.
