The International Criminal Court in The Hague, the Netherlands. ICC PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — The International Criminal Court (ICC) Appeals Chamber on July 18 will decide on the Philippines’ appeal against the continuation of the probe into human rights violations during former president Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody war on drugs.
In January, the ICC’s pre-trial chamber allowed the resumption of the investigation of the Philippines’ war on drugs, which the national government had sought to reverse.
READ: PH formally asks ICC not to reopen drug war probe
In a three-page document, the Court said that it will decide on the “appeal of the Republic of the Philippines against the decision of Pre-Trial Chamber I entitled ‘Authorisation pursuant to Article 18(2) of the Statute to resume the investigation” of 26 January 2023.’”
“Judgment in the above appeal will be delivered in open court on Tuesday, 18 July 2023 at 10h00 (10: 00 a.m),” said the Appeals Chamber, based on the Hague’s time.
This is the same day in the Philippines but at 4:00 p.m.
The ICC had reignited the probe during the term of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. after it found insufficient evidence that the Philippines had made sufficient effort to address the human rights violations during the drug war.
“Following a careful analysis of the materials provided by the Philippines, the Chamber is not satisfied that the Philippines is undertaking relevant investigations that would warrant a deferral of the Court’s investigations on the basis of the complementarity principle,” the ICC said previously
The deaths due to Duterte’s war on drugs ranged in the thousands. Official death tolls from police authorities tagged 6,252 deaths, while human rights groups argued that this number could reach tens of thousands.