Human rights lawyer and former Bayan Muna Party-list Rep. Neri Colmenares has explained why the 43 alleged cases of extrajudicial killings (EJK) cited in the International Criminal Court of Justice (ICJ)'s crime against humanity charge against former president Rodrigo Duterte are enough to establish the latter's guilt.

Colmenares on Tuesday, March 25, countered Vice President Sara Duterte's claim that the 43 cases won't do her father in.

He said Duterte's camp "will surely lose in the Confirmation of Charges Hearing if they use this argument."

Arguments

Colmenares said that there is no exact number of deaths required for an act to be considered a crime against humanity under Article 7 of the Rome Statute as well asunder Rule 63-75 on evidence of the rules of procedure in the ICC.

First: the elements of crimes against humanity under Art. 7 (1) only require a "widespread or systematic attack against civilians" that can be proven by "multiple attacks" defined under Art. 7 (2)(a).

A systematic attack does not require a specific number of deaths, he said.

"The evidence that the attacks were committed in various regions and provinces in the Philippines for at least six years proving widespread attacks cannot be surmounted by the defense," he said.

"Ilan ba talaga ang papatayin ng isang presidente para masabing krimen ito sa sangkatauhan? Kung maliit na bagay sa mga Duterte ang pagpatay ng 43 ka-tao, hindi ito maliit sa mata ng mga biktima at ng mundo," he added.

Second: the 43 cases mentioned by the prosecutor in his application for a warrant merely provided a representation of the widespread attacks merely for the purpose of requesting for the issuance of the warrant, according to Colmenares.

The charges that the prosecutor may file for the Sept. 23 confirmation hearing may not be even limited to 43 cases, considering that the Philippine National Police (PNP) during the term of Duterte officially admitted to killing at least 6,252 victims during the drug war," he added.

"When we filed the complaint in the ICC in 2018 as counsel for the victims, we only mentioned at least 4,410 deaths admitted by the PNP as of July 31, 2018," he said.

Colmenares believed Duterte will lose in the Confirmation Hearing if he uses this 'small number of deaths' to claim that there is no case of crime against humanity against him. 

He cited the case of Dominic Ongwen from Uganda. Ongwen was convicted in 2021 for 61 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes for his attacks in Northern Uganda from 2002 to 2005 and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Colmenares also cited the case of Congolese Bosco Ntaganda, who was convicted in 2019 on five counts of crime against humanity for his attacks against civilians in a district in Congo and was slapped with a 30-year jail term.

His co-perpetrator, Germain Katanga, was convicted by the ICC in 2014 for one count of crimes against humanity and four counts of war crimes for his attacks in the same district in Congo and was sentenced to 12 years behind bars.

"Based on these ICC decisions, there is no way that the ICC will release Pres. Duterte because the 43 cases against him are not serious enough to be considered crimes against humanity," Colmenares reckoned.

'Hurtful for families'

Colmenares also said that Vice President Duterte's pronouncements not only lacked legal basis; it was also painful to the families of EJK victims.

"What is more hurtful is for the families of the victims to be called fake victims by VP Duterte. While Pres. Duterte enjoys the presumption of innocence in his trial and was read his rights upon his arrest, the EJK victims were arbitrarily adjudged guilty by Pres. Duterte and were mercilessly killed like dogs without any warrant or court hearing," he said. 

He said if the Dutertes only allowed the investigation of the EJKs during their reign, "they would have known that these are not fake victims like Mary Grace Piattos or Amuy Liu".

"While the Piattoses and the Amuys will never appear in any hearing, the families will attend and submit their evidence and comments during the trial of Pres. Duterte who will be the first Asian to be tried in the ICC," he said.