Duterte asks ICC to skip pre-trial

The judges have till Friday to resolve what to do. Hearings are set to begin Monday, February 23

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – Former president Rodrigo Duterte has made a last-minute to request to not attend his affirmation of prices hearings in individual, placing some questions up within the air for a pre-trial that had beforehand appeared all set to go.

“I don’t want to attend authorized proceedings that I’ll overlook inside minutes. I’m outdated, drained, and frail. I want for this Courtroom to respect my peace contained in the cell it has positioned me,” Duterte mentioned in a letter typed for him on Tuesday, February 17, and which his lawyer Nicholas Kaufman submitted to the Worldwide Legal Courtroom (ICC) on Wednesday, February 18.

The primary day of the affirmation of prices listening to is about on Monday, February 23, giving the ICC pre-trial chamber judges solely till Friday, February 20 to resolve what to do.

In keeping with ICC guidelines, the pre-trial chamber may resolve to push by means of with the hearings even with out Duterte’s, offered that they discover foundation to take action. They may additionally deny the request, and order Duterte to look.

This could all need to occur throughout the subsequent two days. Victims of the drug struggle, and their legal professionals, are all scheduled to reach in The Hague this weekend. Filipino journalists have began arriving, too.

Kaufman mentioned that they’d made the request earlier, however have been constrained to solely file Wednesday as a result of the pre-trial chamber requested that Duterte should personally execute the waiver.

“Mr. Duterte shouldn’t be now able to ‘personally executing’ something, not to mention writing a legally reasoned waiver in his personal hand. That’s the reason he has legal professionals each talking for him and drafting paperwork on his behalf,” mentioned Kaufman.

However, Kaufman mentioned Duterte verbally dictated the waiver to his authorized staff on February 16, which was typed up onto a doc, and subsequently re-approved by the previous president on February 17.

The foundations additionally present that suspects waiving their proper to look can nonetheless comply with the process exterior of courtroom through videolink, however Duterte additionally doesn’t need that choice.

“I perceive the implications of my waiving this proper which has been totally defined to me by my Counsel and I belief him and his staff to problem the sufficiency of the Prosecution’s proof on my behalf. I don’t want to comply with these proceedings from exterior the courtroom by means of using communications know-how,” Duterte mentioned.

“I’ve accepted the truth that I may die in jail. However people who need this destiny for me ought to know that my coronary heart and soul will all the time stay within the Philippines,” the previous president added.

Kaufman nonetheless reiterated in his request that Duterte is cognitively impaired, even because the pre-trial proceedings have been scheduled as a result of an unbiased panel of medical consultants discovered him match to take part within the pre-trial.

Duterte is accused of three counts of homicide that make up crimes in opposition to humanity, masking 49 particular incidents of killings throughout the years, from the Davao Dying Squad to the struggle on medication. The incidents lined killed 78 victims.

Learn Duterte’s waiver in full under:

I, Rodrigo Roa Duterte, want to waive my proper to attend the listening to on the affirmation of prices at the moment mounted for 23-27 February 2026. I perceive the implications of my waiving this proper which has been totally defined to me by my Counsel and I belief him and his staff to problem the sufficiency of the Prosecution’s proof on my behalf. I don’t want to comply with these proceedings from exterior the courtroom by means of using communications know-how. An unique copy of this waiver and my signature is within the fingers of my legal professionals.

My causes are as follows:

I don’t acknowledge the jurisdiction of the Worldwide Legal Courtroom over my individual. I’m a Filipino citizen forcibly pushed right into a jet and renditioned to The Hague within the Netherlands in flagrant contravention of my nation’s Structure and of nationwide sovereignty. My kidnapping was facilitated by the workplace of the incumbent President of the Philippines with a airplane specifically
chartered for this objective.

The declare that I oversaw a coverage of extra-judicial killings is an outrageous lie. These claims have been peddled by my political opponents for a few years and, as my nation is aware of, they’re primarily based on the phrase of people whose credibility has been totally discredited.

I don’t want to attend authorized proceedings that I’ll overlook inside minutes. I’m outdated, drained, and frail. I want for this Courtroom to respect my peace contained in the cell it has positioned me. I’ve accepted the truth that I may die in jail. However people who need this destiny for me ought to know that my coronary heart and soul will all the time stay within the Philippines.

I’m happy with my legacy and of my service to my countrymen around the globe. Let nobody doubt my love for and loyalty to the Filipino nation.

Kaninyo, ako, magpabiling suluguon.
Rodrigo Roa Duterte

– Rappler.com