ICC rejects Rodrigo Duterte defense bid to reframe charges

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The International Criminal Court’s (ICC) Trial Chamber III has ordered prosecutors to update their list of witnesses and evidence to reflect the removal of Incident 57 from the trial brief involving former President Rodrigo Duterte.

In a decision published on October 9, the Chamber found that Incident 57—one of eight new incidents added by the prosecution to its 143-page trial brief—falls outside the temporal scope of Count 2, which covers crimes against humanity of murder involving “high-value targets” during Duterte’s presidency.

The decision partially granted the defense’s second motion challenging the amendment of the Document Containing the Charges (DCC) without prior judicial authorization from Pre-Trial Chamber I.

Duterte’s counsel, Peter Haynes, had asked Trial Chamber III to make a judicial determination on Incidents 50 to 57, the eight incidents the prosecution added without prior judicial authorization.

The Chamber said Incident 57 falls within the factual and geographical scope of Count 2 and is consistent with the alleged criminal pattern the prosecution seeks to establish. However, it ruled that the incident falls outside the count’s confirmed temporal scope, which covers alleged crimes committed between July 2016 and July 2017.

“In the Chamber’s view, the Prosecution cannot now be permitted to broaden the temporal scope of the confirmed charges beyond the defined period the Prosecution itself established,” the Chamber said.

The Chamber directed the prosecution to update its list of witnesses and evidence, as well as its trial brief, by October 16 to reflect the removal of Incident 57. — VBL, GMA News