Australia has no desire or intention to provide sanctuary for former president Rodrigo Duterte should he succeed in his petition for an interim release filed early June in the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague, Netherlands.
In a statement to media late June, the Australian government said while it was aware of Duterte’s application for an interim release in a third unnamed country, “the matter is for the ICC to decide under the Rome Statute.”
Under the Rome Statute, an ICC member country must agree to host an ICC detainee in case he is granted interim release.
Vice-president Sara Duterte-Carpio, daughter of the former president, earlier said her father was setting his sights on Australia as a potential host country for his interim release. She also told the media she tried reaching out to Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong but failed because the latter was unavailable.
The Vice-president visited Australia last June 17 to 24. “I do hope that I can meet them (Australian officials) in my next visit in the future,” the VP said.
After the Australian government expressed disinterest in hosting her father, the younger Duterte claimed father’s lawyers neither discussed nor submitted an application for interim release with Australia.
“I’d like to clarify that the defense team of (former) president Duterte never reached out to the Australian government to discuss about this interim release. There is no application of former (former) president Duterte for interim release in Australia, and the submission of the lawyers of (former) president Duterte wherein there were two countries indicated in the document, albeit redacted, I have to confirm that (there were) two countries, none of which is Australia,” she said.
“This has never been discussed with the Australian government. There was never an application with the Australian government. And there is no intent as well to apply for interim release with the Australian government,” she added.
In a filing last June 12, the former president’s lawyer Nicholas Kaufman told the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber that a third country had expressed its “advance and principled agreement to receive Mr. Duterte onto its territory.”
The filing added that the Prosecution has “confirmed its non-opposition” to Duterte’s release, provided that a number of conditions are fulfilled.
This claim was however belied by the Prosecution.
In a 15-page response on June 23, ICC deputy prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang asked the Pre-Trial Chamber I to reject Duterte’s interim release bid, citing the risk of endangering ongoing investigations and even the court’s proceedings.
“No agreement whatsoever was reached with the Defense on conditions of interim release to any country other than (REDACTED). For absolute clarity: the Prosecution has not agreed in any way to conditions for interim release to (REDACTED), or anywhere else in the world, other than (REDACTED),” the ICC deputy prosecutor also said.
The Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) said that Duterte’s continued detention “is necessary to ensure his appearance during trial.”
The OTP cited Duterte’s resistance to his arrest, as well as the claims by his family and lawyers that he was “kidnapped” by the court.
“Mr. Duterte’s behavior… and the claims of his family and lawyers that he was kidnapped or abducted by the Court, demonstrate that he does not accept the legitimacy of the legal proceedings against him,” wrote the OTP in its filing.
“His continued detention is therefore necessary to ensure his appearance at trial … A victim of a kidnapping is unlikely to return to the custody of the kidnapper if given an opportunity to escape. Mr. Duterte, his family, vocal supporters and counsel all consider him a victim of a kidnapping/abduction,” it added.
Moreover, the OTP said Duterte’s release could endanger and obstruct the ongoing investigation “because of the possible opportunity to intimidate or threaten witnesses either directly or indirectly, through his associates or his family members.” It mentioned the current positions held by his children, including Vice-president Sara Duterte-Carpio, who is also a reserve colonel in the Army.
