Prosecution eyes 6-hour inquiry for 1st witness in Duterte’s ICC trial

MANILA — The prosecution in former President Rodrigo Duterte’s trial has vowed to cut in half its opening statement to speed up proceedings, but maintained that the panel needs to spend 6 hours in presenting its first witness.

The International Criminal Court Trial Chamber 3 earlier gave the prosecution 6 hours to lay down its opening premise, while the victims’ representative gets 3 hours for its separate opening statement.

“We are gonna try to cut that in half. We will hope for 3 hours or under. We hope to be more concise,” ICC senior trial lawyer Julian Nicholls of the prosecution team said during the 5th and last status conference hearing for Duterte’s trial.

“Three hours but we are also cutting the time. We are actually working on this as we speak,” added Paulina Massida of the ICC’s Office of the Public Counsel for Victims (OPCV).

While the defense may decide to deliver its opening statements before it presents its own evidence and witnesses, the court urged Duterte’s counsels to at least provide a summary to help the public have a better grasp of their arguments at the start of the trial.

“The public can hear straight away what the issues are in this case. I want you to consider applying not to open in full but to givee the public and the court an outline of what your defense will be along the lines of what will happen,” Trial Chamber 3 Joanna Korner said.

“We will finalize that position in the next few days, but it is most likely that I will not say something at the start given the stature of the accused,” lead defense counsel Peter Haynes said in response.

Parties to the case have agreed to a 6-hour daily schedule from November 30 and until the International tribunal goes on a Christmas break in mid-December.

Each trial day is divided into 4 sessions spanning an hour each, and divided by an hour-long lunch break, and 2 shorter recesses in the morning and in the afternoon.

Trial days open at 10 a.m. in the Netherlands or 5 p.m. in the Philippines, will conclude by 4 p.m. in Europe or 11 p.m. here, to give ample time for Duterte to be brought back to the detention facility near the ICC.

Adjustments to the schedule are expected to take place should the parties present witnesses via video conferencing or what the ICC calls as an audio video link or AVL.

“We have to start earlier. We are 7 hours in front or behind. We have to finish by 8 p.m. there [in the Philippines],” said Marc Dubuisson, Director of the ICC Division of Judicial Services.

“If the hearing ends at 1300 here, it does not fit into the schedule. If we do sessions 3 instead of 4, we end not beyond 2000 at the location (Philippines,” he said. 

Aside from time issues, the Trial Chamber 3 also ruled that parties will not be allowed to use Tagalog in their opening statements as English and French are the only languages recognized under the Rome Statute.

“Once we start to do this, applications come in and it will be more complicated and more expensive if we accede to it,” Trial Chamber 3 Presiding Judge Joanna Korner said.

“We are going to follow what the rome statute has mandated and it must all be in English,” she said, adding that transcriptions in Tagalog would be added to the ICC’s website at a later time.

Duterte is expected to be present in all trial days in accordance with the ICC rules.

Duterte is accused of 3 counts of crimes agains humanity for the murder of thousands of suspected drug users and peddlers — including minors — during his rule as Davao City mayor until he ascended to the Philippines’ highest post in 2022.