A video posted on YouTube claims the witnesses in the case against former president Rodrigo Duterte before the International Criminal Court have withdrawn. This is false.
No official document from the ICC website, nor any credible media report, confirms that the witnesses in the crimes against humanity case against Duterte have withdrawn. The news article featured in the video was taken out of context.
On Nov. 20, a YouTube channel uploaded the 17-minute, 51-second video carrying a thumbnail with a text that read:
“1CC (sic) WITNESS UMATRAS NA! MGA PEKE WITNESS NI CONTI KUMANTA LAHAT! CONFIRMED GOOD NEWS”
(ICC WITNESS HAS WITHDRAWN! CONTI’S FAKE WITNESSES HAVE ALL CONFESSED! CONFIRMED GOOD NEWS)
The video then proceeded to show a screenshot of a news article supposedly about the withdrawal of the witnesses. At the beginning of the clip, an anonymous speaker stated:
“Tila aataras na diumano sa pagiging testigo ang mga nasabing EJK victims laban sa dating pangulo na si Rodrigo Roa Duterte na kasalukuyang nasa ICC detention center sa The Hague, Netherlands. Ayon kay Attorney Conti at sa iba pang mga lawyer, ay nabu-bully raw umano ang mga ICC witness kaya raw sila ay magwi-withdraw na ng kanilang mga testimony
(It appears that the said EJK victims who were supposed to testify against former president Rodrigo Roa Duterte, who is currently in the ICC detention center in The Hague, Netherlands, would withdraw. According to Attorney Conti and other lawyers, the ICC witnesses are allegedly being bullied, which is why they will withdraw their testimonies).”
A keyword search on Google shows that the post took out of context an article published by foreign publication Nikkei Asia last March 24.
The report said that potential witnesses in the ICC case against Duterte are facing severe pressure from online harassment, “fake news machinery,” and other attacks employed by the Duterte camp to force them into withdrawing their testimonies, quoting human rights lawyers assisting them. Nowhere in the report did it mention any withdrawal by the families of victims of extrajudicial killings under Duterte’s drug war.
ICC Assistant to Counsel Kristina Conti said that with these attacks, granting Duterte’s interim release could lead to “witness intimidation or harm and tampering with evidence.”
Duterte remains detained at the Scheveningen prison in The Hague, Netherlands. The ICC Appeals Chamber is scheduled to deliver its decision on Duterte’s interim release appeal on Nov. 28.
The false video, uploaded by the YouTube channel PINAS NEWS INSIDER (created Dec. 26, 2015), has so far garnered 44,000 views, 1,900 reactions and 281 comments.
