The Hague, Netherlands — Four months before the confirmation hearing on the case of ex-Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte before the International Criminal Court, his defense camp is now seeking the disqualification of the two judges from the situation.
On Monday, Duterte’s lead counsel Atty. Nicholas Kaufman led the submission of Corrigendum to Request for Disqualification against Judge Reine Adélaïde Sophie Alapini-Gansou at Judge María del Socorro Flores Liera before the ICC Presidency.
This appeal is already a correction of the request they first filed before the Pre-Trial Chamber I that holds Duterte’s case.
On May 6, the Chamber dismissed the request noting that the challenge for disqualification must be submitted before the Presidency.
“The Defence respectfully requests the disqualification of Judge Reine Adélaïde Sophie Alapini-Gansou and Judge María del Socorro Flores Liera with regard to the challenge to the jurisdiction of the Court and the exercise thereof,” the Corrigendum reads.
Under this, they also request the disqualification of Judge Alapini-Gansou from adjudicating in the request, as she is the Second Vice President.
The Corrigendum noted that the judges assigned to the case are also the ones who authorized the investigation on the Situation in the Philippines.
“The Judges have had prior involvement in the most substantive legal question in the case against Mr Duterte. As such, the jurisdictional issues at the situational and case levels are not just similar; they are identical: both concern the issue of jurisdiction. No judge should be put in such a situation,” the Corrigendum added.
Kaufman argued that the judges’ direct participation in the deliberation and adjudication of the jurisdictional question in the Situation may pose valid concerns regarding the absence of impartiality.