The Hague, Netherlands — In the recent developments of former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s case in the International Criminal Court (ICC), the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I mandated that the evidence for the case be disclosed by April.
In an order dated March 21, the Pre-Trial Chamber sets April as the deadline for the prosecution and FPRRD’s defense teams to submit all the evidence related to the case.
Based on the said order, the prosecution has until April 4 to disclose their set of evidence regarding the charges of crimes against humanity filed against Duterte, in relation to the killings under his war on drugs campaign.
This includes the overall number of written pieces of evidence it plans to present at the confirmation hearing, the number of pages it amounts to, and the original language of the evidence, as well as the language it will be made available for the trial.
The prosecution is also directed to present the span and the original language of said evidence, as well as the transcripts and translations if it is documentary evidence, such as photographs, videos, and audio recordings.
Aside from these, the chamber also requires the prosecution to submit information on how many and which evidence can be immediately disclosed without redactions, and how many physical witnesses will they need.
While the prosecution has until April 4 to submit their evidence, Duterte’s camp has until the 11th of April to provide their response and observation on this information.
It can be noted that these deadlines are months ahead of Duterte’s confirmation hearing set on September 23.