The Office of Public Counsel for Victims (OPCV) and the Office of the Prosecutor filed separate objections on the interim release application of former president Rodrigo Duterte, urging the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) pre-trial chamber to reject the defense’s latest notification.

The seven-page document signed by Principal Counsel Paolina Massidda said that Duterte’s continued detention “remains necessary” because the defense “fails to demonstrate any change of circumstances, nor does it bring any other pertinent and unforeseen matter to the attention of the Pre-Trial Chamber.”

The OPCV argued that the latest notification merely supplements its earlier application for interim release.

“Contrary to the Defence’s submissions, none of the information contained in [REDACTED] is of novel or unanticipated character that could or would alter any of the facts and considerations currently at the disposal of the Chamber,” it added.

It also cited the victims’ opinion, who “consider that giving effect to the Defence’s various requests under the guise of a Notification would ultimately harm the image of the Court as a court of law, as it would send the message that [REDACTED] before this Court, a proposition the Victims decidedly reject.”

“Mr Duterte is detained for cogent reasons in accordance with the criteria set out in the applicable articles and rules (or statutory instruments). These reasons have been laid out in detail by both the Prosecution and the OPCV. None of these reasons has changed. There thus exists no basis for the Chamber to release Mr Duterte pending the confirmation of charges against him,” it stressed.

Meanwhile, the Prosecution also rejected anew the defense’s bid for interim release, saying that its latest notification is “irrelevant” to the issue of whether Duterte should be granted temporary freedom.

The issue, it added, is whether the conditions of the interim release can be met if it will be granted to the former leader.

“The Prosecution has demonstrated through multiple filings that Mr Duterte, if granted interim release, would be a flight risk, is likely to interfere with the proceedings, and may commit further crimes,” the document stressed.

Further, the Prosecution pointed out that the “defen(s)e has unnecessarily delayed the proceedings by waiting until five months after Mr. Duterte’s initial appearance, following the deadline for the Prosecution’s pre-trial disclosure, the Document Containing the Charges and the Pre-Confirmation Brief, to file its challenge regarding his fitness to stand trial.”

It noted that how in these five months, the former president was able to provide instructions to the defense to file a jurisdiction challenge and the request to disqualify two judges of the pre-trial chamber.

Duterte was also able to agree to abide by the conditions of his interim release in the defense’s negotiations with the prosecution, it added.

“These examples contradict Defence Counsel’s recent proclamation that “[REDACTED]” and his claim in the Defence Notification that Mr. Duterte’s fitness has been at issue since his initial appearance,” the five-page document signed by Deputy Prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang said.

“For the above reasons, the Prosecution respectfully requests that the Chamber find that the submissions within the Defence’s Notification are irrelevant to its determination on interim release,” it added.