MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews / 21 February) – The document containing former President Rodrigo Duterte’s waiver of his right to attend the confirmation of charges hearing before the Pre-Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Court from February 23-24 and from 26-27 combines propaganda and legal maneuver.
It makes use of ad misericordiam (appeal to pity or emotion) – “I am old, tired, and frail,” “I have accepted the fact that I could die in prison.” It also resurrects the issue of jurisdiction that the Pre-Trial Chamber has resolved in favor of the Prosecution, a decision which the Appeals Chamber has upheld.
While the claims of poor health and cognitive impairment may make the hearts of Duterte’s diehard supporters bleed, the ICC would have none of it. In a finding submitted to the court last month, a panel of medical experts found him fit to attend the hearings in person. Besides, being “old, tired, and frail” is never a reason to shun responsibility and accountability for crimes. Else, there ought to be a law exonerating suspects who have reached a certain advanced age.
But what stands out is Duterte contradicting himself in the waiver document. How could somebody with cognitive impairment recall with clarity the circumstances leading to his detention in The Hague? And how could he possibly give instructions to his lawyer, Nicholas Kaufman, on how to mount his defense?
It’s also revealing that the document is mainly subdued. Except for the part where he accused the Office of the President of “kidnapping” and bringing him to the ICC, gone is the bluster that has always entranced his supporters.
For the first time, he has denied his leading role in the extrajudicial killings that characterized his administration’s “war on drugs,” the chilling phrase that led to his indictment but which was never mentioned in the document. I suspect the omission was deliberate. His exact words:
“The claim that I oversaw a policy of extra-judicial killings is an outrageous lie. These claims have been peddled by my political opponents for many years and, as my nation knows, they are based on the word of individuals whose credibility has been thoroughly discredited.”
Contrast this evasiveness with how he spoke and behaved during the hearings in Congress where he boasted about how his administration prosecuted the drug war, and where he admitted to the existence of the Davao Death Squad and the reward system for police officers involved in extrajudicial killings. He has never denied the killings, not during his presidency, not during the legislative hearings.
Duterte is not known to be calculating in his words. He always speaks his mind, an attribute that may serve a political purpose but is a liability before formal venues like the ICC.
From these contradictions and based on the tenor of the pronouncements, it would appear that the waiver was Kaufman’s idea. Kaufman knows well that his client, based on his actuations during the congressional hearings, is a loose cannon whose unpredictability could be more lethal to his defense than any evidence the Prosecution has to offer.
The waiver statement is nothing more than an attempt by Duterte to feign denial and defiance. Denial of the extrajudicial killings as a policy. Defiance of the ICC by not recognizing its jurisdiction over him. The first seeks avoidance of accountability, the second betrays arrogance, a mindset that says he is answerable to no one but himself.
(MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. H. Marcos C. Mordeno can be reached at boymords@mindanews.com.)
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