ICC declares Duterte fit for trial; confirmation of charges set for next month

National

AFTER months of delay, the International Criminal Court (ICC) will proceed with confirming charges against former President Rodrigo Duterte next month after judges ruled that he is fit to stand trial.

ICC judges have unanimously denied a request to postpone Rodrigo Duterte’s case indefinitely. Despite defense claims of cognitive impairment, the Pre-Trial Chamber’s 25-page decision cleared the way for the case to continue.

Relying on an independent panel of medical experts, the judges dismissed the defense's request for an indefinite adjournment.

“Having carefully considered all of the relevant circumstances of the case, in particular the expert opinions provided by the panel, and the defense’s observations thereon, the Chamber finds the conclusions of the panel to be reliable.” the chamber stated

“Read holistically… the Chamber is satisfied that Mr. Duterte does have the ability to understand the charges against him and is able effectively to exercise his procedural rights,” it added.

While the judges acknowledged that “certain measures” would be implemented to assist the former president as advised by medical opinions, they sharply rejected defense arguments that attempted to use specific test results to claim a severely impaired memory.

Addressing these tactics, the judges said, “In making submissions relating to Mr. Duterte’s memory, the defense takes individual findings of members of the panel out of context. The defense relies upon certain results in tests undertaken by the experts to argue that he has a severely impaired memory.”

The Chamber affirmed its confidence in the medical consensus, concluding, “The Chamber finds persuasive the holistic approach adopted by the experts in their assessment of Mr. Duterte and accepts the resulting clear and unanimous conclusions which they draw in relation to his capacities to meaningfully exercise his procedural and fair trial rights.”(Jhon Mark A. Aboabo, USJR Comm Intern)