The camp of former president Rodrigo Duterte is seeking the disqualification of two judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Pre-Trial Chamber I (PTC I) for having already supposedly decided on the issue of jurisdiction on the former chief executive’s case.

In an 11-page document dated May 12 and addressed to “The Presidency,” Duterte’s lead counsel Nicholas Kaufman formally sought the removal of judges María del Socorro

Flores Liera and Reine Adélaïde Sophie Alapini-Gansou from deciding on the jurisdiction challenge.

As a second vice president of The Presidency, Kaufman also wants Alapini-Gansou to be disqualified from deciding on the request.

“The Defence’s request to disqualify the Judges will ensure the autonomy and irreproachability of the judges as well as the efficient conduct of the proceedings by engendering a minimum degree of disturbance to the Chamber’s current composition,” the document read.

“The recourse sought will, simultaneously, preserve Mr. Duterte’s right to objectively impartial adjudication,” it added.

Liera and Alapini-Gansou were members of the previous chamber that allowed the ICC prosecutor to initiate the investigation into Duterte’s brutal war on drugs in 2021 even as the Philippines withdrew its membership from the Rome Statute in March 2019.
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They were also part of the chamber that ruled on the resumption of the investigation into 2023.

The defense team’s request came after the PTC I dismissed on May 6 the Duterte camp’s “invitation” for both judges to excuse themselves from adjudicating on the jurisdiction challenge, which questions the ICC’s jurisdiction on the former president’s case.

The Chamber cited the invitation’s lack of procedural propriety, but Kaufman argued that the defense “was motivated by a sense of courtesy and deference precisely because of the presumption of judicial impartiality and integrity.”

However, it stressed that the question of jurisdiction “is a contentious – if not the most contentious – issue” in Duterte’s case.

“Deciding this matter in favour of the Defence will have far-reaching consequences on the future of the Situation,” the document read.

“Indeed, the ICC judiciary has already shown that it is divided on the issue. This matter should be not decided in the Case by judges who have formulated a firm opinion on the question sub judice prior to hearing Defence submissions,” it added.

Duterte’s camp has raised questions on the ICC’s jurisdiction on the case, citing the Philippines’ formal withdrawal in March 2019 and the fact that preliminary investigation did not start until 2021, or two years after the withdrawal from the Rome Statute took effect.

However, both the Supreme Court and the ICC agreed that the international court has jurisdiction over the crimes committed in the Philippines until the withdrawal from membership became effective in March 2019.