Ex-president Duterte won’t be brought to local Dutch court: envoy

By Joyce Ann L. Rocamora, Philippine News Agency

The envoy said the former chief executive is in the custody of the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the ICC Detention Center in The Hague. (File Photo: Senate of the Philippines/Facebook)

MANILA – Former president Rodrigo Duterte will not face any local Dutch court, Philippine Ambassador to The Netherlands J. Eduardo Malaya confirmed on Thursday.

The envoy said the former chief executive is in the custody of the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the ICC Detention Center in The Hague.

“(He) won’t be brought to a Dutch court,” he told the Philippine News Agency.

“It will be proceedings before the ICC all the way. There is no requirement for an arrested person to be brought before a Dutch local court, under the Rome Statute.”

After Duterte’s arrest and surrender to the ICC, international law expert and Dean of the San Sebastian College-Recoletos Graduate School of Law Rodel Taton said the next procedure is the “confirmation” of his identity and the case filed against him.

The Pre-Trial Chamber, he said, would also have to consider whether to proceed or not if there is a “finding that there is a reason to go to trial.”

“Right now, he is a suspect, but once confirmed, he becomes an accused in that particular matter,” he explained.

“Once his identity is confirmed and the (charge) against him, it would become a case not anymore a situation.”

READ: Ex-president Duterte arrives in The Hague, now in ICC custody

If a trial proceeds, the prosecution will present their evidence and the former president will also be given a chance to present his own case, Taton said.

Upon his arrival from Hong Kong via Cathay Pacific flight CX 907, the prosecutor general served the ICC notification for an arrest warrant to him for crimes against humanity.

The ICC in September 2021 began its probe into the Philippines’ situation covering the campaign against illegal drugs from Nov. 1, 2011 to March 16, 2019, when Duterte was still Davao City mayor and the Philippine president.

Investigations were suspended in November 2021 after Manila requested a deferral, saying local authorities looked into alleged deaths and abuses during the campaign. In 2023, the ICC authorized the resumption of the probe.

In its 15-page warrant of arrest, the ICC explained that it retains jurisdiction over the case in the context of the crimes allegedly committed in the Philippines when it was still a state party to the Rome Statute.

The Philippines became party to the Rome Statute in November 2011 but withdrew on March 17, 2018, a move that took effect on March 17, 2019.