It has not even been 24 hours since the beginning of the pre-trial hearings of former president Rodrigo Duterte’s case at the International Criminal Court, and yet some Facebook accounts are already spreading disinformation about it.
An FB page published a post on Feb. 24 falsely claiming that ICC judges walked out during the opening remarks of Joel Butuyan, one of two Filipino lawyers representing victims of Duterte’s drug war. The magistrates also allegedly yanked his mic away from him.
The malicious post surfaced about 12 hours after the ICC held the first day of Duterte’s confirmation of charges hearing in The Hague, Netherlands. Its graphic card read:
“FILIPINO LAWYER JOEL BUTUYAN HUMILIATED ON GLOBAL STAGE AS ICC JUDGES WALK-OUT AND YANK HIS MIC?”
Not true. About seven minutes into his speech, Butuyan was interrupted by a member of the court at 11 a.m. Central European Time to observe the schedule for Duterte’s hearing, which mandated a 30-minute break in between the first and second sessions of the day.
Presiding Judge Iulia Motoc herself said (originally in French):
“Thank you very much, counsel. We will now take a half-hour break as provided for in the schedule and you shall resume your remarks at 11:30 a.m.. These are the rules that are set in the schedule which was set in Paragraph 18 of Decision No. 359.”
Butuyan resumed the delivery of his remarks after the break. He was not “humiliated” in the international court; his microphone was never forcibly taken away from him, nor did the judges “walk out” due to his speech.
According to the public decision that set the schedule and direction for the pre-trial hearing, the lawyers of the drug war victims were given 30 minutes for opening statements, 1.5 hours for submissions on the merits of the case, and another 30 minutes for closing statements.
The Feb. 23 hearing was divided into three sessions, with one 30-minute break and one 90-minute break between sessions.
The false claim originated from the FB page Pinoy Showbiz (created on March 1, 2018), which has a history of publishing pro-Duterte disinformation. Apart from its untrue and clickbait graphic, its caption carried four paragraphs, one of which included untrue speculations about the reasons for the interruption of Butuyan’s speech, and one short paragraph stating that supporters of drug war victims said the interruption was made because of the ICC’s strict schedule.
Its false post has so far obtained over 12,000 reactions; 1,700 comments; and nearly 500 shares. At least two other FB accounts have reposted it.
