Lawyer Kristina Conti on Tuesday stated she is each apprehensive and hopeful amid the looming resolution of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Appeals Chamber on the Philippine authorities’s attraction towards the resumption of the probe into the controversial battle on medicine.
Conti is the ICC assistant to counsel and the secretary-general of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers-National Capital Region, which has requested the ICC to look into the drug battle.
“Apprehensive, but at the same time, hopeful for this afternoon,” Conti advised CNN Philippines in an interview.
The ICC Appeals Chamber will announce in open courtroom at 4 p.m. on Tuesday (Manila time) its resolution on the federal government’s plea towards the continuation of the ICC prosecutor’s probe on the drug battle.
According to Conti, the problem on attraction is Article 18, which offers with the deferral of an investigation due to an ongoing home probe.
However, she stated the federal government in its attraction “threw in everything but the kitchen sink” and made arguments on the jurisdiction of the ICC, which is underneath Article 19.
“They already discussed the issues of jurisdiction and visibility, that we’re no longer part of the ICC and all other matters that it addressed before. Before it was a mishmash of arguments but now they structured it in such a way that they oppose the investigation in all its entirety,” Conti stated.
“If the Appeals Chamber also takes these arguments by the Philippines into consideration, then we’re looking at a decision that deals with all those issues in its entirety, including jurisdiction, including admissibility, just so to let these matters rest,” she additionally stated later within the interview.
When requested why the federal government used these arguments, Conti stated this was to “stave off the investigation” of the ICC.
Philippine officers, together with President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., have stated the federal government is not going to cooperate with the ICC, citing the worldwide physique’s lack of jurisdiction.
Under the drug battle, not less than 6,200 suspects have been killed in police operations primarily based on authorities data. Human rights teams, nonetheless, claimed the precise loss of life toll could possibly be from 12,000 to 30,000.
Former President Rodrigo Duterte pulled the Philippines out of the Hague-based tribunal in 2019 after it started a preliminary probe into his drug battle, adopted by the launch of a proper inquiry later that 12 months.
In an interview with reporters on Monday, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla stated the Philippine authorities is not going to comply if the ICC points a warrant of arrest towards some people over killings attributed to the battle on medicine.
When hunted for remark, Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra earlier stated that the ICC prosecutor may indict sure people if there may be adequate proof.
Remulla, nonetheless, stated the indictment would solely be “political” and that the ICC ought to move on the proof to the Philippine authorities if they need sure people held accountable. —KBK, GMA Integrated News
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
