Add’l charges vs. FPRRD may be included before Sept. 23 – legal expert

FILE: Former president Rodrigo Duterte (File photo courtesy of Senator Bong Go/Facebook)

By Benjamin Pulta, Philippine News Agency

MANILA – A lawyer accredited by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Monday said other charges may be included by prosecutors ahead of the Sept. 23 confirmation of charges against former president Rodrigo Duterte.

In an interview with reporters, lawyer Joel Butuyan pointed out that Duterte is only facing charges of crimes against humanity committed due to his drug war carried out between Nov. 1, 2011 and March 16, 2019 during his time as Davao City mayor and then Philippine president.

“Now, that’s only a single charge. So, not included are illegal imprisonment, torture, illegal detention and other inhumane acts. We can see that by Sept. 23, prosecutors can actually apply for additional charges, not only murder,” he said in Filipino.

As for the murder charges, Butuyan, who is the president of the Center for International Law, said the number of criminal incidents in the case Is irrelevant.

“The ICC case is not the trial of the 30,000 deaths. It is a trial of who planned to make the killings a policy in resolving the drug problem. So, what is at stake here is who masterminded it,” he said.

“In fact, under ICC rules, even one death is enough as long as you can prove that a policy was made that this is the solution to the drug problem, to kill them. So, the 43 (cases cited by the ICC) is more than enough,” he added.

Meanwhile, Butuyan said the completion of Duterte’s legal defense team means that incidental matters raised by the defense may be brought to the attention of the ICC pre-trial court and resolved sooner.

Among the preliminary matters raised by Duterte’s counsels is the question of jurisdiction of the ICC following the Philippines’ withdrawal from the ICC during his term.

In earlier interviews, Butuyan said the case against Duterte may be completed in as little as a year considering the evidence at hand.

He said the evidence gathered and relied upon by the prosecutors in applying for the warrant of arrest is replete with many videos of the many declarations of Duterte where he encouraged police officers to kill drug suspects, promised rewards and promotion, and for the public to kill drug suspects.