ICC defers ruling on Duterte release

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has granted the petition of former President Rodrigo Duterte’s camp to defer the decision on their request for his interim release, despite earlier invoking his advanced age as a ground for his urgent temporary liberty.

Duterte’s lead counsel, Nicholas Kaufman, had sought his client’s immediate provisional release on 12 June. But only two days later, he asked that the ruling on the request be postponed, citing delays in obtaining certain information from the prosecution.

Although Judge María del Socorro Flores Liera dissented, the petition was nonetheless approved by majority vote from Presiding Judge Iulia Antoanella Motoc and Judge Reine Adélaïde Sophie Alapini-Gansou of Pre-Trial Chamber I.

The ruling states that deferring a decision on a request for interim release is not provided for in the ICC’s legal framework, but is based on the supporting documents submitted by the petitioner.

Hence, the judges emphasized that it is the “defense’s responsibility to ensure that all relevant information and materials in support of its requests are put before the chamber at the time of submission, particularly when adjudication is sought on an urgent basis.”

As Duterte reserves the right to apply for interim release at any point pending his trial under Article 60(2) of the Rome Statute, the judges are compelled to grant the defense’s petition until they have taken further action on the matter, or until the chamber deems it appropriate.

“To ensure that a decision on the interim release request is appropriately informed, the majority considers it appropriate, in the circumstances, to defer the issuance of its decision on the interim release request,” the decision read.

The chamber, however, clarified that the ruling “shall not be construed as prejudging any matter to be determined in the context of the proceedings related to the interim release request, including in its eventual decision thereon.”

Previously, in petitioning the court for Duterte’s temporary liberty, Kaufman invoked humanitarian reasons as “compelling grounds” to grant their request, taking into account the former leader’s advanced age of 80.