The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has rejected the appeal of former President Rodrigo Duterte for his interim release.
The prosecution told the Appeals Chamber that the defense panel failed to “establish any legal or factual error” in the ICC decision for Duterte’s continued detention.
“Mr. Duterte’s three grounds of appeal fail to establish any legal or factual error. Rather, the Defense repeatedly expresses its mere disagreement with the Decision, mischaracterizes and ignores the Chamber’s reasoning, and misstates and misunderstands the applicable law. The Appeal should therefore be dismissed,” the prosecution said in the redacted version of its response to the defense’s appeal.
“For the foregoing reasons, the prosecution respectfully requests that the Appeals Chamber dismiss the Appeal and affirm the decision (for Duterte’s continued detention).”
Duterte’s lawyers earlier said the chamber “summarily” dismissed the conditions and state guarantees offered by a cooperating country willing to host the former President under surveillance.
Earlier, the Appeals Chamber appointed a presiding judge to handle Duterte’s appeal challenging the ICC’s jurisdiction.
In its decision dated October 29, the court named Judge Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza as presiding judge.
Prior to joining the ICC, Carranza served as a Senior National Prosecutor in Peru’s specialized system for the prosecution of crimes such as terrorism, grave violations of human rights, and crimes against humanity. Additionally, she acted as the coordinator of the 17 prosecutorial agencies of the system.
According to the ICC, other cases handled by Carranza in the Appeals Chamber include Congo warlord Bosco Ntaganda and Ugandan warlord Dominic Ongwen.
