After filing an urgent request for the interim release of former President Rodrigo Duterte, his lawyers filed another urgent request for the pre-trial chamber of the International Criminal Court to hold off from deciding.
Duterte’s lawyer Nicholas Kaufman, in a request submitted July 18, said the chamber “should be in possession of all relevant materials, including [REDACTED], before making its first crucial determination on interim release.”
The defense team said its efforts to get certain information from undisclosed sources were “slow-walked and stymied.”
“In light of the aforementioned, the Pre-Trial Chamber is respectfully requested to suspend its adjudication of the request for interim release until such time as the Defence has assembled all information necessary to permit [REDACTED] to complete [REDACTED],” read the document signed by Kaufman.
The prosecution, however, asked the pre-trial chamber to reject the plea.
“The Defence should not be permitted to suspend issuance of the decision on the basis that it may, at some unknown point in the future, attempt to supplement its submission,” it said.
The prosecutors added Duterte’s team “chose to file its urgent application for interim release” knowing that the information they have was “incomplete.”
“The fact that the Defence finds itself in the situation where it is unable to substantiate assertions made in its own, urgent motion, is entirely due to the Defence’s choice to file prematurely, The Defence has not been ‘prejudiced,’” the prosecution said.
For her part, Vice President Sara Duterte said she remains hopeful the crimes against humanity case against her father will be dismissed.
“Let’s take it one day at a time. For now, what we’re hoping for is that it will be dismissed. The case is based on the filings in the jurisdiction, and in the meantime, he should also be granted interim release while the arguments are ongoing,” she told supporters in The Hague on Saturday.
“He should be given interim release due to his age and because of his health,” she added.
The vice president will stay in the Netherlands until July 23 and is scheduled to visit South Korea before the end of the month to meet the Filipino community there.
When asked about the condition of her father, the younger Duterte said: “PRRD is okay and in a good mood today.”
“He just asked why his grandson didn’t arrive because that’s who was supposed to visit,” she said.
