Up to ICC Prosecutor to seek arrest of Duterte’s alleged co-perpetrators —Conti

Being named as an alleged co-perpetrator of former President Rodrigo Duterte in his crimes against humanity case does not mean an automatic arrest, International Criminal Court (ICC) assistant to counsel Kristina Conti said Monday.

Interviewed on Unang Hirit, Conti said it is up to ICC Prosecutors to seek the arrest of the co-perpetrators.

“May ano ito, may tinatawag na prosecutorial discretion. So ‘yung prosecutor according sa strategy niya. Pwede siyang any or all ang habulin niya. Usually itong prosecutor, dito papasok ‘yung discretion,” she said.

(This involves what is called prosecutorial discretion. So the prosecutor, depending on his strategy, can go after any or all of them. Usually, this is where the prosecutor’s discretion comes in.)

“Kasi sabi ng ICC, saklaw namin lahat ng tao na gumawa ng krimen na crimes against humanity and so forth. Pero sabi ng prosecutor, masyado naman, sobra nung kung lahat. Kaya doon kami sa most responsible. ‘Yung mga tao na may kakayahan na pigilan o ipatigil ‘yung krimen. So ‘yung pinaka bossing,” she added.

(Because the ICC says, we cover everyone who committed crimes, crimes against humanity and so forth. But the prosecutor says that would be too much, excessive if it’s everyone. So we focus on the most responsible. The people who had the ability to prevent or stop the crime. The top bosses.)

Over the weekend, the ICC released a document naming the alleged co-perpetrators of the former president who were in the "common plan" to "neutralize alleged criminals" through "violent crimes including murder.”

These were Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa; Senator Bong Go; former Justice secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II; former Philippine National Police chiefs Vicente Danao, Camilo Cascolan, Oscar Albayalde; former National Bureau of Investigation chief Dante Gierran; and former Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency head Isidro Lapeña.

For its part, Duterte’s defense team described the list released by the ICC as “completely lacking in truth.”

Not yet co-accused

Meanwhile, Conti stressed that a co-perpetrator is not a co-accused.

She said that the supposed accusations against the co-perpetrators are only laying the groundwork on the accusations against Duterte.

“Hindi pa ito akusasyon sa kanila… ‘Yung point of view ng ICC, sa point of view na ginawa ‘yung krimen. Imposible i-kwento ‘yung ginawa ni Duterte nang hindi sinasali ‘yung pangalan nila,” she said.

(It is not yet an accusation against them. Of course, it hurts because why was I even mentioned. From the ICC’s point of view, from the point of view of how the crime was committed, it is impossible to narrate what Duterte did without including their names.)

Aside from this, the lawyer maintained that the Philippine government should cooperate with the international tribunal despite the country’s withdrawal from the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC, in 2019.

The ICC Prosecutor has charged the former President with 49 incidents of murder and attempted murder while implementing his anti-narcotics campaign, “although the actual scale of victimization during the charged period was significantly greater.”

Based on government records, around 6,200 drug suspects were killed during the Duterte administration’s anti-drug operations. Human rights organizations, however, say that the number may reach 30,000 due to the unreported related killings. —AOL, GMA Integrated News