According to Kristina Conti, paralegal and co-representative of the victims, Duterte’s strategy is not focused on refuting the facts of the anti-drug campaign, which left at least six thousand dead, but on undermining the ICC’s legitimacy.

“He is not facing the facts,” Conti declared. “He is challenging the court itself. It’s a strategy of distraction, not defense,” Conti said.

Duterte is accused of orchestrating extrajudicial killings, which human rights groups say were disproportionately directed against the poor, during his presidency from 2016 to 2022.

Although the Philippines withdrew from the ICC in 2019, Conti argues that this does not absolve Duterte of responsibility for actions committed while the country was a member.

Duterte’s defense is based on the technicality that the ICC lost jurisdiction because the Philippines left the Rome Statute before the court formally opened the investigation in 2021.

jrr/arm/mem/asg/li