Drug war victims’ lawyer: Prosecution met standards to confirm charges vs Duterte

The International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutors met the evidentiary standard for the confirmation of the charges against former President Rodrigo Duterte, victims’ representative Paolina Massidda said on Tuesday.

Massidda, the principal counsel of the Office of the Public Counsel for Victims (OPCV), said the Prosecution must demonstrate substantial grounds to believe that Duterte committed the charges of murder and frustrated murder against him.

In the Document Containing the Charges (DCC), the Prosecution charged Duterte with three counts of crimes against humanity (murder and attempted murder) for alleged killings during his time as mayor and his presidency. 

“Victims submit that the evidence presented by the Prosecution meets this evidentiary standard. The confirmation of all charges is not only legally warranted, it is essential to integrity of international criminal justice,” she said during their submission on the merits.

“The evidence before this chamber establishes reasonable ground to believe that crimes against humanity of murder and attempted murder were committed in the context of a widespread and systematic attack against a civilian population and Mr. Duterte fears individual or criminal responsibility,” she added.

Duterte’s legal counsel, Nicholas Kaufman, previously argued on Monday that the evidence against Duterte was “wholly insufficient.” He also claimed that the speeches that the Prosecution cited do not manifest “criminal intent."

Kaufman added that the allegations against his client were “grievously misplaced and politically motivated” as he urged the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I to send back the former President to his family and country.

He said the prosecution’s evidence against the 80-year-old Duterte was “wholly insufficient” and claimed that the prosecution “cherry-picked” Duterte’s speeches to suit its narrative.

He added that Duterte’s “hyperbole, bluster, and rhetoric” did not have lethal intent and was calculated to instill fear, obedience, and a respect for the law in the minds of drug suspects.

Meanwhile, Massidda noted that while justice cannot restore lost lives, it can restore dignity, affirm humanity, and help the victims begin to heal.

She stressed that the victims’ trauma is not always visible. 

“The loss victims carry is not measured only in the death of a loved one. It is measured in the empty chair of the dinner table, the birthdays that will never be celebrated, the dreams that ended abruptly, and the futures that were taken from them,” she said.

“For the victims, the confirmation of charges is not merely a legal step. It is a recognition that their loved ones mattered. It is an enlargement that what happened to them was wrong. It is a message that they have not been forgotten,” she later added.

Meanwhile, lawyer Gilbert Andres lamented that some drug war victims were killed right in their homes and in front of their families.

“The murdered victims were dehumanized by how they were murdered. During their actual murders, the targeted victims were summarily accused as drug users or pushers without the benefit of a judicial process just like the one before this chamber,” he said.

“The victims were then murdered inside their homes or within their own close-knit community. The victims who were murdered inside their homes were murdered in front of their family, their spouse, their children, or their parent, especially in front of their mothers,” he added.

Massidda earlier stressed that the drug war victims pleaded for their lives during the anti-illegal drug operations.

The next hearings will be held on Thursday, February 26, and Friday, February 27.

READ: DAY IN COURT: ICC Hearings on the Charges vs. Duterte

According to the ICC, the Pre-Trial Chamber I may decide to do the following at the close of the confirmation of charges hearing:

• Decline to confirm the charges. Such a decision does not prevent the Prosecution from presenting a subsequent request for confirmation of the charges on the basis of additional evidence
• Adjourn the hearing and request the Prosecution to consider providing further evidence or conducting further investigation, or amending the charges, or
• Confirm the charges and commit the case for trial. Upon confirmation, the Presidency of the Court constitutes a Trial Chamber responsible for the subsequent phase of the proceedings: the trial.

— JMA, GMA Integrated News