The International Criminal Court’s (ICC) Office of the Prosecutor urged the tribunal to deny former president Rodrigo Duterte’s request for interim release.
Earlier this month, Duterte’s lawyer Nicholas Kaufman filed a petition asking the ICC to allow the former president to be released to a country willing to receive him.
The name of the country was redacted in the public version of the urgent request uploaded to the ICC website.
The request also said that the prosecution confirmed its non-opposition to the former president’s interim release to the country, yet to be made public, “on the understanding that the terms and conditions set out in Annex A to this filing would be met.”
“[T]he Prosecution respectfully requests that the Chamber reject the Defence’s Request for the interim release of Mr Duterte,” the Office of the Prosecutor said in a 15-page document dated June 23 and signed by ICC Deputy Prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang.
In their petition, Duterte’s legal team argued that he does not pose a flight risk and cited humanitarian grounds to support his request.
The former president is currently under ICC custody in The Hague, Netherlands, where he faces charges related to his administration’s controversial drug war.
