A Facebook reel is claiming that the International Criminal Court has already granted the petition of former president Rodrigo Duterte for interim release to an undisclosed country. This is not true.
The video published on June 14 had the following text superimposed throughout its short 51-second run: “DIGONG LALAYA NA NGAYONG ARAW (Duterte will go free today)”
Other than claiming that the request had already been granted, the video’s narrator added that the mere fact the request was publicized by British lawyer Nicholas Kaufmann – Duterte’s lead counsel – was evidence of the petition’s approval.
As of June 17, there has been no decision on the appeal filed with the ICC according to the tribunal’s website. In the petition filed on June 12, Kaufman made known that a certain government, whose identity is redacted in the document, had expressed its “advance and principled agreement” to receive Duterte.
The ICC’s Office of the Prosecutor (OTP), without declaring its stance on Duterte’s appeal, told VERA Files Fact Check in an email that it will file its response before the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber I, which is handling the ongoing proceedings.
“The Prosecution will file a public version which will clearly set out its position on the Defense’s application,” the OTP said.
The false claim continues to circulate this week after Vice President Sara Duterte said in a press conference that the ICC should grant the request of her father who, at 80, she described as a “super senior citizen.”
FB page Tuliling’s VlogTv (created on Sept. 15, 2022) published the spurious short video, garnering over 30,000 reactions, 3,000 comments, 3,800 shares and 819,000 views.
