CenterLaw strongly opposes former President Rodrigo Duterte’s request for interim release from pre-trial detention at the International Criminal Court (ICC). As counsel for many of the victims of his violent “war on drugs,” we are gravely concerned that his release from custody will directly threaten the safety, security, dignity, and privacy of victims in the Philippines and abroad, as well as jeopardize the integrity of his pending prosecution for crimes against humanity.
We vehemently urge the Court to unequivocally reject Duterte’s petition and the claims therein. Even a temporary release of Duterte – to a currently undisclosed location – puts victims, witnesses, human rights defenders, and others who have dared to participate in the ICC investigation at unacceptable levels of risk and harm. As it stands, Duterte’s current detention has not even stymied the continuous harassment, intimidation and large-scale vilification levelled by his supporters at those involved in ICC proceedings in the Philippines and The Hague.
The age and health conditions cited as justification in the Defense’s petition for release cannot, on their own, obscure the pursuit of truth and justice that is the mandate of the Court. In a case involving the widespread and systematic killing of thousands of people, pretextual concerns for the humane treatment of one man ring hollow. The drug war victims denied due process and sentenced to summary execution in the streets and homes of the Philippines faced far worse conditions than those Duterte currently confronts in ICC detention.
Regardless of the undisclosed state’s willingness to host Duterte, this proposed custodian lacks any accountability to or scrutiny by the international community – unlike the Court – and thereby amplifies the risk to victims and witnesses if his terms of release go unenforced. Several crucial facts cannot be ignored: Duterte once held the most powerful political office in the Philippines and, in that position, consistently silenced his opposition and retaliated against witnesses to his crimes. Even while detained in The Hague, he remains a threat.
As the ICC proceedings advance towards a hope of accountability and justice, families and victims of extrajudicial killings (EJKs) resiliently withstand online threats, retraumatization, and their own personal grief after years of inaction by the domestic justice system. Granting Duterte’s request for interim release would not only compromise the faith these families have delicately placed in the hands of the ICC, but it would signal to the global community at large that perpetrators of large-scale violence can escape justice by delaying, deflecting, and maneuvering through procedure and politics.
Nor can the claims in Duterte’s petition be divorced from the current political context of the Philippines. As the Senate shirked their constitutional duty to proceed with the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte, the systematic barriers to accountability for elected officials in the Philippines have never been clearer. If the ICC follows this development by releasing Rodrigo Duterte, it will send a clear message to the Filipino public that the powerful are shielded by impunity while their victims remain without recourse or protection.
CenterLaw joins widespread calls from victims’ families, Filipino civil society, and the international community of human rights defenders urging the ICC: deny Duterte’s petition for release and continue to prosecute his alleged crimes against humanity in full accordance with international law.
