What lies ahead in the ICC?

Jude Josue
Sabio

BASED on Prosecutor Bensouda’s public announcement, she made it clear that he she made a careful, impartial and independent examination of the communications and reports submitted to her office before she decided to conduct a preliminary examination.

Not less than 10,000 communications have been submitted to the International Criminal Court (ICC) from different sources from different countries, but only a few went into preliminary examination.

In this context, where there is a very low batting average, the preliminary examination involving the Philippines, particularly against President Duterte, is already a first momentous step towards the attainment of international criminal justice.

I do not want to pre-empt Prosecutor Bensouda, but it would be fair to say that she has seen substance or merit in the communication submitted to her by me and Sen. Trillanes and Congressman Alejano; otherwise, she would not have decided to proceed to preliminary examination.

I am indeed hopeful that based on my communication as well as that of Senator Trillanes and  Congressman Alejano and other available information like the reports of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, Prosecutor Bensouda will find reasonable basis to proceed to formal investigation, and to apply for an Arrest Warrant with the Pre-Trial Chamber, so that the death squad killings or extra-judicial killings in the Philippines will be stopped.

This is an enormous challenge to the ICC and Prosecutor Bensouda in the quest for global justice because Duterte is a sitting president, a popular one at that. But for me, domestic political popularity is immaterial and irrelevant to a court of law. Its ebb and flow has nothing to do with the majesty of international criminal law.

The fact and truth of the matter is that Duterte has blatantly violated the Rome Statute and must therefore be brought before the bar of international criminal justice, tried and finally convicted so that international criminal justice will prevail.

Omar al Bashir of Sudan has been a continuing challenge to the ICC. But with Duterte saying that he will surrender to the ICC if it issues an arrest warrant, then the daunting task of arresting him will be made easy. This is not to mention that Duterte also said that if he is found guilty, he is willing to be put to firing squad.

This marks the first time in the history of global justice that a sitting President in the Philippines and in Asia is being subjected to preliminary examination.

My fearless forecast is that the formal investigation will be opened by Prosecutor Bensouda within a period of six months, or at the most within this year. This is because of the long pile of information and evidence available to her, and of the fact that Duterte’s system of death squad killings have been continously, repeatedly and unchangingly happening for more than 20 years or about 30 years since his Davao Death Squad.

(Jude Josue L. Sabio is a lawyer from Misamis Oriental. He is among those who filed the complaint against President Duterte before the International Criminal Court.)