Duterte won't participate in ICC confirmation hearing via video, says Kaufman

Former President Rodrigo Duterte will not take part via video conference at his confirmation of charges hearing, which is scheduled to start on  Feb. 23, his defense counsel Nicholas Kaufman said on Tuesday.

According to the ICC website, the confirmation of charges will be on Feb. 23 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., The Hague local time (5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Philippine time), before the Pre-Trial Chamber I in Courtroom I. 

The subsequent hearings will be on Feb. 24 (Tuesday), 26 (Thursday), and 27 (Friday). 

The prosecution, the defence, and the victims’ lawyers will explain their arguments to the judges.

“The former President will not participate in the confirmation hearing through video-conferencing. Nor did the former President willingly appear by way of such technology at his initial appearance," Kaufman told GMA Integrated News.

"His co-counsel at the time, Attorney Salvador Medialdea, requested a postponement of that hearing fixed for a Friday to an in-court hearing on the following Monday, to allow me to arrive in The Netherlands, to represent him as his counsel of choice, and specifically to raise the issue of legal competence," he added.

"This request was perfunctorily denied. Then, still dazed from hospital medication, in a tasteless suit not of his own, he was positioned, slumped in front of a camera, to be told that a prison doctor had deemed him 'fully mentally aware and fit'," Kaufman said.

Asked if the former President will appear in person or waive his right, Kaufman "declined to be drawn further on the matter."

The parties in the crimes against humanity charges against Duterte will have the following allocated time for oral presentation: 

• Prosecution: 30 minutes for opening statements, 2 hours and 30 minutes for submissions on the merits, and 30 minutes for closing statements
• Common legal representatives of the victims (CLRV): 30 minutes for opening statements, 1 hour and 30 minutes for submissions on the merits and 30 minutes for closing statements;
• Defense: 30 minutes for opening statements, 3 hours and 30 minutes for submissions on the merits, and 30 minutes for closing statements.

The ICC said the schedule may change if needed, depending on how the proceedings develop.

The hearing can be watched online with a 30-minute delay on the ICC website, Facebook, and YouTube.

“The purpose of the confirmation of charges hearing is to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to establish substantial grounds to believe that the person committed each of the crimes charged,” the ICC said.

“If one or more of the charges are confirmed, the case will be transferred to a Trial Chamber, which will conduct the subsequent phase of the proceedings: the trial,” it added.

Duterte is currently detained at the ICC Detention Center in Scheveningen in The Hague on charges of crimes against humanity in relation to the killings during his administration's war on drugs when he was mayor of Davao City and when he was president of the Philippines. 

The ICC recently disclosed that senators Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa and Bong Go; former police officials Vicente Danao, Camilo Cascolan, Oscar Albayalde, and Isidro Lapeña; former National Bureau of Investigation director Dante Gierran; former Justice secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II; and other members of the Philippine National Police and high-ranking officials as Duterte's alleged co-perpetrators in the "common plan" to "neutralize alleged criminals" through "violent crimes including murder." –NB, GMA Integrated News