MANILA, Philippines — Detained former president Rodrigo Duterte’s defense team is not backing down from the request to prevent two pre-trial judges of the International Criminal Court from ruling on their challenge to ICC jurisdiction.
In contrast to the earlier plea asking Judges María del Socorro Flores Liera and Reine Adélaïde Sophie Alapini-Gansou to recuse themselves partly from the case, the recent motion seeks their complete removal from the proceedings.
The court documents indicated that defense attorney Nicholas Kaufman submitted a petition to the ICC Presidency asking for the removal of Liera and Alapini from deciding matters related to jurisdiction.
Based on ICC’s Rules of Evidence and Procedure, the ICC Presidency – composed of the ICC president, first vice president and second vice president – will deal with requests to excuse or disqualify judges from exercising their functions.
As Alapini-Gansou is also the ICC’s second vice president, Kaufman stated that she ought to be ineligible for adjudicating their appeal.
“The Judges have had prior involvement in the most substantive legal question in the case against Mr. Duterte. As such, the jurisdictional issues at the situational and case levels are not just similar; they are identical: both concern the issue of jurisdiction,” Kaufman wrote.
In a previous filing, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan argued that the defense did not prove their assertion about the "alleged prejudice" of the two judges.
"Judges' previous legal decisions on matters of law, made during the regular performance of their responsibilities, do not constitute bias, nor should they lead to an appearance of conflict or misconduct," Khan stated.