ICC drops 1 killing incident in Duterte trial brief
MANILA, Philippines — The prosecution in the International Criminal Court (ICC) has updated its trial brief for the crimes against humanity case of former President Rodrigo Duterte, but with no changes made in the list of witnesses.
The amended trial brief, which was submitted on Oct. 16 but made public only on Tuesday night, was in response to the ruling of the Trial Chamber (TC) III early this month to remove one killing incident that the prosecution had sought to include as a new incident tied to the charges.
The one killing incident taken out of the trial brief pertained to a drug suspect identified as a “high-value target” who was included in the so-called “PRRD (President Rodrigo Roa Duterte) list.” The trial brief released to the public was redacted.
It was the only killing rejected by the TC III judges out of the eight other incidents that the prosecution had sought to be added to the charges.
READ: ICC keeps jurisdiction over Duterte case, rejects bid to halt probe
The chamber had ruled that the said incident falls outside the scope of the charges and the prosecution should not be allowed to widen the coverage of the confirmed charges it has established.
The seven other incidents were mostly added to the third count of murder, which refers to the killings committed during barangay clearance operations in Metro Manila during Duterte’s presidency.
No amendments, however, were made to the witnesses and list of evidence included in the trial brief, according to the prosecution.
Its full reason was heavily redacted, but the prosecution noted that they are “relevant to the contextual elements of crimes against humanity and Duterte’s individual criminal responsibility,” among others.
Daily schedule
Duterte, whose mental and physical fitness was cleared by court-appointed doctors, is expected to attend his trial in person starting Nov. 30.
The Outreach Unit of the ICC said on Tuesday night that the initial daily schedule for the trial would run with four hourly sessions, in The Hague time, from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. (4 p.m. to 5 p.m. Philippine time), 11:30 p.m. to 12:30 p.m. (5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. PH time), 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. (7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. PH time) and from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. (9 p.m. to 10 p.m. PH time).
The trial will begin with opening statements from the prosecution and the common legal representatives of victims (CLRVs), with the former allotted six hours and the CLRVs to be given three hours. The defense will have the option to also present their own opening statement.
After all parties and participants have given their remarks, the chamber will start hearing the testimony of the first prosecution witness. /cb
