THE prosecution at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has removed an alleged drug-related killing from its trial brief in the crimes against humanity case against former president Rodrigo Duterte, complying with a court order that found the incident fell outside the period covered by the confirmed charges.
In an updated trial brief filed on Oct. 20, the prosecution removed Incident 57, involving the alleged murder of a high-value drug target, after Trial Chamber III ruled that it occurred beyond the time frame established for the charge.
Despite the removal, the prosecution retained its existing lists of witnesses and evidence, saying material related to the incident, when considered alongside other evidence, remained relevant to establishing the contextual elements of crimes against humanity and Duterte’s individual criminal responsibility.
The prosecution’s explanation was partly redacted in the public filing, leaving the specific details of how the related evidence would support its case undisclosed.
Incident 57 was one of eight additional incidents the prosecution sought to include in its case. The incident fell under Count 2, which covers alleged murders of high-value drug targets across the Philippines between July 2016 and July 2017.
In its Oct. 9 decision, Trial Chamber III found that Incident 57 allegedly occurred about two weeks beyond the period covered by Count 2. The judges ruled that the prosecution could not expand the temporal scope of the confirmed charges to accommodate the incident.
“The prosecution cannot now be permitted to broaden the temporal scope of the confirmed charges beyond the defined period the prosecution itself established,” the chamber said in its ruling.
Although the incident fell within the type and geographical scope of the allegations under Count 2, its timing placed it outside the confirmed charge, the judges found. The chamber therefore excluded Incident 57 while allowing seven other additional incidents, numbered 50 to 56, to remain in the case.
The ruling brought the total number of incidents covered by the prosecution’s trial brief to 56, up from the 49 incidents covered when the charges were confirmed in April.
The exclusion does not mean the court found that the alleged killing did not occur or that Duterte was cleared of responsibility for it. Rather, the ruling concerned whether the incident could be included under the confirmed charges as framed.
In complying with the order, the prosecution replaced references to Incident 57 with “[DELETED]” in the updated trial brief to preserve cross-references. It also removed references to the incident from Annexes C.1 and C.2.
The prosecution said it made no amendments to its lists of witnesses and evidence because material related to Incident 57, combined with other evidence, remained relevant to the contextual elements of crimes against humanity and Duterte’s individual criminal responsibility.
The public filing did not explain in detail how the material would be used or which specific pieces of evidence would remain relevant. It also did not identify the alleged victim or provide the exact date and location of the killing.
Under the Rome Statute, crimes against humanity require proof that the alleged acts formed part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against a civilian population, along with the other legal elements of the offense and the accused’s individual criminal responsibility.
Duterte faces three counts of crimes against humanity in connection with alleged killings during his administration’s anti-drug campaign and during his time as mayor of Davao City. The charges involve alleged killings attributed to the Davao Death Squad, murders of high-value drug targets and killings during barangay clearance operations.
Trial Chamber III is composed of Presiding Judge Joanna Korner, Judge Keebong Paek and Judge Nicolas Guillou.
The trial is scheduled to begin on Nov. 30.
