President Rodrigo Duterte says he could not be prosecuted in the International Criminal Court for the human rights abuses in his campaign against illegal drugs.
He insisted on Tuesday before Filipino and Israeli businessmen in Jerusalem that the ICC could never have jurisdiction over him.
He said the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC, could not be enforced in the Philippines because it was not published in a government publication or any commercial newspaper.
“You did not publish the law, so how do you suppose you can prosecute me? There is no law because if there is no publication, then the Constitution applies,” Duterte said.
“And therefore to insist on indicting me under that Rome Statute would be a violation of my constitutional right [to due process].”
Two communications filed separately by lawyer Jude Sabio, activists and alleged victims of the drug war call for Duterte’s indictment for the alleged thousands of extrajudicial killings in the course of his drug campaign.
Acting on the first communication, the ICC prosecutor in February opened a preliminary examination to determine whether it had
jurisdiction over the matter and said a full-blown investigation would serve the interests of justice and of the victims.
Duterte responded by withdrawing the Philippines’ membership in the ICC in March, citing the “baseless, unprecedented and outrageous” attacks against him and his administration.
Law experts had earlier dismissed Duterte’s claim about the necessity of publication.
The Center for International Law said there was no further requirement of publication in any newspaper of general circulation to make the treaty binding on the Philippines. It said the Rome Statute became effective when the Senate gave its concurrence.
The International Commission of Jurists said the publication requirement was “immaterial.”
Duterte’s critics said he could still be held liable for the offenses committed while the Philippines was a signatory to the ICC, as the actual withdrawal from the the court would come a year after notification.
Malacañang has said the communications will not prosper. It cited the principle of complementarity in which the ICC can only investigate allegations of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes if the domestic courts are unable or unwilling to do so.
Duterte has also said there is no such crime as extrajudicial killing under the Revised Penal Code.