MANILA — The defense team of former President Rodrigo Duterte has launched a bid to stop his International Criminal Court (ICC) case from proceeding to full trial, signaling an aggressive legal strategy as confirmation of charges hearings get underway this week.
Lead defense counsel Nicholas Kaufman said their objective is to dismantle the prosecution’s evidence and convince ICC judges that the case does not meet the threshold required for trial.
“Our job, as I said, is to chip away at the prosecution evidence and try and convince the judges that they shouldn’t let this case go to trial,” he said in an interview with ABS-CBN News.
The confirmation stage is a critical juncture in ICC proceedings, where judges determine whether there are “substantial grounds” to believe the accused committed the crimes alleged.
Kaufman stressed that the burden of proof rests entirely on prosecutors.
“Are there substantial grounds to believe that the former president committed the crimes that the prosecution alleges that he committed? So, that’s the role of the prosecution. The defense doesn’t have to do anything, with respect to proving things. It doesn’t have to prove Mr. Duterte’s innocence. All it has to do is show that substantial grounds to believe that he committed a crime don’t exist. And we can do that on the basis of the evidence that we’ve examined,” Kaufman explained.
He maintained Duterte’s innocence and expressed firm confidence in their legal position.
“He is innocent, and I one hundred percent believe because the evidence that has been brought against him doesn’t make out the prosecution case against him. And I believe that when he made those speeches, he didn’t make them with criminal intent,” Kaufman said.
Kaufman also disclosed concerns about Duterte’s mental condition, claiming it has affected his short-term memory and capacity to actively engage in his defense.
“Yes. He understands that because we’ve repeated it so many times that he can’t possibly forget it now…he understands the nature of the process because he himself was a former prosecutor,” Kaufman said.
“His long term memory, his memories of childhood, his memories of his early career and presidency, well, early presidency, I would say, are intact. His short term memory, however, is completely gone. It’s very sad,” he added.
The defense team, he said, has had to repeatedly explain essential legal matters to the former president due to his condition.
Meanwhile, several Filipino lawyers are expected to attend the proceedings in support of Duterte, including former Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea and former presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo.
Kaufman underscored their longstanding involvement in the former president’s legal affairs.
“Atty. Martin Delgra, Atty. Salvador Medialdea have been working with us all along. We’ve been taking advice from Attorney Delgra who has been the former president’s lawyer for many years. Same for Salvador Mediadea, Bingbong, who has been a long time friend of the former president,” he said.
He added that their presence would help explain developments to the public as the high-stakes proceedings unfold.
If ICC judges find that prosecutors have presented sufficient evidence, the case will advance to trial. If not, the charges could be dismissed at the confirmation stage — a ruling that could determine the trajectory of one of the most closely watched international cases involving a former Philippine leader./PN
