Duterte defense counsel airs confidence; another falls ill
Salvador Medialdea —AP
MANILA, Philippines — The lead defense counsel of former President Rodrigo Duterte at the International Criminal Court (ICC) expressed confidence that his client “will be acquitted” soonest while hinting that questions about his arrest in Manila last week will again be raised.
Also on Tuesday, the Philippine Embassy in the Netherlands confirmed that Salvador Medialdea, who stood as Duterte’s lawyer in his first appearance hearing before the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber (PTC) on March 14, fell ill as he was about to see the ex-president in detention and had to be brought to the hospital.
Speaking to reporters outside the ICC on Tuesday, British-Israeli lawyer Nicholas Kaufman said “I am very confident in the strongest defense possible and I’m very confident that he (Duterte) will be acquitted indeed even at the earliest stage possible.”
READ: Duterte’s ICC arrest: Separating fact from lies
Asked if he, like Medialdea, would again question how Duterte was arrested and flown to the ICC by the Philippine government, Kaufman said: “Well, in that point, he was completely denied all his rights in the Philippines.”
“We will be filing necessary applications in due course,” the lawyer said in a video posted online as part of a report by One News Channel.
‘Initial hearing’
Medialdea, Duterte’s former executive secretary, was allowed to read a “manifestation” before the PTC claiming the ex-president’s arrest was politically motivated and tantamount to “pure and simple kidnapping.”
But Presiding Judge Iulia Antoanella Motoc later reminded Medialdea that they were just conducting “an initial hearing” mainly for Duterte to be aware of his rights and the charges against him.
Iulia Antoanella Motoc —Photo from ICC website
“[T]here will be a full procedure that will unfurl, leading up to the confirmation of charges, that will enable Mr. Duterte to raise all the matters that you have just raised with regard to the warrant of arrest, with regard to the charges, and any other matter associated with his arrest, and the matters of jurisdiction of the court,” Motoc said.
There will be a six-month gap before Duterte again faces the ICC PTC for the confirmation of the charges hearing, which is set for Sept. 23.
Hospitalized
Meanwhile, the Philippine Embassy in the Netherlands said Medialdea fell ill while registering at the reception counter of the ICC Detention Center around 8:55 a.m. (local time).
“An Embassy official, who accompanied him to the Detention Center, immediately called for medical attention, which was provided by a Detention Center medic,” the embassy said in a statement.
“An ambulance was called which brought Atty. Medialdea to a Hague area hospital where he is currently receiving treatment,” the embassy said, adding he had since been accompanied by a close relative.
Nicholas Kaufman —Photo from LinkedIn
In an update later on Tuesday, the embassy said that “after having received treatment at the hospital emergency room, Atty. Medialdea was brought to and is now in a regular hospital.”
“According to another source, he is already stable and can manage to smile anew,” it said.
Due to strict Dutch data privacy rules, no further information about his medical condition has been made available, it added.
