Two YouTube videos are claiming that the International Criminal Court has dismissed the crimes against humanity case against former president Rodrigo Duterte. This is false.
The Hague-based international tribunal has yet to begin the trial of Duterte in connection with his bloody drug war. The ICC has provisionally scheduled the confirmation of charges hearing against the former chief executive on Sept. 23, when the judges will decide if there is sufficient evidence for the case to proceed to trial.
One of the videos, published on Aug. 3, bore a headline that read:
“Hala Konfermado na,Sawakas Digong Uuwi na,Icc Naawa,Kaufman may Problema,Supergoodnews Dds, Vpsara (Whoa, it’s confirmed. At last, Digong is coming home! ICC showed mercy, Kaufman has a problem. Super good news for DDS, VP Sara).”
Both videos carried on their thumbnails the erroneous claim of the supposed dismissal of Duterte’s case at the ICC.
These are merely clickbaits as the videos showed an unrelated Facebook livestream of former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque on Aug. 3 visiting Filipino seafarers at the Scheveningen port.
Roque did not mention the supposed dismissal of Duterte’s charges before the ICC or anything related to the case. The former presidential spokesman, along with the Filipino seamen, only chanted, “Duterte, bring him home,” at the end of his livestream.
As of Aug. 6, the latest ruling released by the ICC was dated July 23, when Pre-Trial Chamber I granted the request of Duterte’s legal team to defer the issuance of a decision on the interim release plea filed by the Defense on June 12.
The spurious videos emerged four days after Nicholas Kaufman, head of Duterte’s defense team, was quoted as saying in a July 30 FB post that Duterte “has made it known that Roque should stop interfering in his case.”
Roque denied interfering in Duterte’s case but admitted that he “offered an additional legal remedy, outside of the ICC, subject to the approval of the former president and his family.”
Published by YouTube channels Viral Balita Philippines (created on July 30, 2022) and Viral PHNEWS (June 28, 2022), the videos with untrue claims have collectively garnered 208,211 views and 5,847 likes as of writing.
