The decision of former president Rodrigo Duterte to not attend the confirmation hearings on his case of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court in The Haque, Netherlands was a major factor in the Trial Chamber III’s May 22 decision to deny his request for interim release and keep him in detention at the Scheveningen prison.
In deciding that “accused shall continue to be detained,” the chamber, presided by Judge Joanna Korner said, “there are no changes or new circumstances that would require its modification of previous decisions” to deny Duterte’s request for interim release.
The chamber defines change in circumstances as “a change in some or all of the facts underlying a previous decision on detention, or a new fact satisfying a chamber that a modification of its prior ruling is necessary.”
The chamber said the former president posed a flight risk considering his “rejection of the proceedings and the will of his close family to help him elude detention and prosecution.”
It also cited “the accused’s international connections, support within the Philippines, and access to resources; and the severity of the charges as well as the potential lengthy sentence the accused may receive if all or part of the charges were to be confirmed and he were convicted at the trial.”
During the confirmation hearings in February, Duterte waived his right to attend, saying: “I do not recognize the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court over my person. I am a Filipino citizen forcibly pushed into a jet and renditioned to The Hague in the Netherlands in flagrant contravention of my country’s Constitution and of national sovereignty. “
The chamber said, “such statement demonstrates at its lowest that the accused will not comply with any orders that might be made in respect of a release from custody. “
On April 23, The Pre-Trial Chamber 1 “unanimously confirmed” all charges of crimes against humanity against Duterte in connection with his war on drugs that killed some 30,000 suspected drug users.
The Chamber said “it is this Court’s consistent and longstanding jurisprudence that the confirmation of charges increases the risk that an accused may abscond and is therefore not a change in circumstances that militates in favour of conditional release, but rather one supporting continued detention.”
The chamber also said, “Notwithstanding the defence’s submissions regarding the accused’s health condition, there is a real and substantial risk that the accused could nonetheless abscond or obstruct justice either on his own or through his associates.”
The chamber stuck to the findings of the three court-appointed medical experts, whose reports, instead of that of Duterte’s former counsel Nicholas Kaufman, that the 81-year-old Duterte is fit to stand trial.
