The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has opposed the request of the Philippine government to dismiss the probe into the bloody war on drugs during the term of former President Rodrigo Duterte.
The Marcos administration earlier argued the ICC tribunal lacks jurisdiction, the alleged crimes are insufficiently grave to warrant further action, and the government has investigated and prosecuted the alleged crimes or is currently doing so.
“The Prosecution respectfully submits that none of those arguments have merit,” ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan said in his response.
Khan also renewed his request that the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber order the resumption of the probe.
“The GovPH (Philippine government) argues that its criminal justice system generally functions well and that certain administrative and other mechanisms may or can result in criminal proceedings. However, nothing in the observations nor in the hundreds of pages of associated annexes substantiates that criminal proceedings actually have been or are being conducted in anything more than a small number of cases,” Khan said.
The government earlier asked the Pre-Trial Chamber of the ICC to deny the request of Khan to resume the body’s investigation into the alleged crimes against humanity committed under the Duterte administration in the implementation of its anti-illegal drug war.
The ICC is seeking to investigate the killings related to Duterte’s war on drugs for the period between July 1, 2016 and March 16, 2019, and those that happened in the Davao region between November 1, 2011 and June 30, 2016.