- Lawyers explore ways to secure FPRRD’s temporary release from ICC detention
VICE PRESIDENT Sara Duterte revealed Tuesday that her father’s legal team is reviewing Dutch laws to secure the temporary release of former President Rodrigo Duterte from the International Criminal Court (ICC) detention in The Hague.
The vice president, accompanied by her mother, Elizabeth Zimmerman, visited the elder Duterte at Scheveningen Prison in The Hague.
Speaking to reporters outside the facility after their one-and-a-half-hour visit, she shared insights into the ongoing legal strategies.
“And then one of the discussions as well was your suggestions… to go through the Dutch laws. Which he said, okay, you explore that,” Vice President Duterte stated, referring to former presidential spokesman Harry Roque, who was present during the media interview and had previously raised the suggestion.
She added that discussions regarding her father’s potential release are already “public knowledge” and that she shared only what their lawyers had authorized.
The vice president indicated that she could facilitate efforts from the Philippines online.
Duterte did not specify the particular provision under Dutch law that the defense intends to utilize. However, she confirmed the legal team’s twin approach: challenging the ICC’s jurisdiction over the former president’s case and invoking a provision under the Rome Statute allowing interim release.
“Whatever’s public knowledge, that’s what we tell him, too,” she said, without further elaboration on the specific legal grounds.
Last month, former President Duterte’s legal team officially challenged the ICC’s jurisdiction over his arrest. The mayor-elect faces charges of alleged crimes against humanity stemming from his administration’s “bloody war on drugs” campaign.
Lead counsel Nicholas Kaufman had previously indicated plans to apply for an interim release for the former president, though the timing of this application was not disclosed.
Under ICC rules, an interim release can be granted by judges if three key factors are met: there must be no risk of flight for the accused, no risk of interference with witnesses or evidence, and no risk of continuing the alleged crimes.
Moreover, the defense’s efforts to secure temporary freedom for the former president now hinge on these legal avenues.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump’s administration on Thursday imposed sanctions on four ICC judges, an unprecedented retaliation over the war tribunal’s issuance of an arrest warrant on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a past decision to open a case into alleged war crimes by US troops in Afghanistan.
Washington designated Solomy Balungi Bossa of Uganda, Luz del Carmen Ibanez Carranza of Peru, Reine Adelaide Sophie Alapini Gansou of Benin, and Beti Hohler of Slovenia, according to a statement from U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Alapini Gansou is among the judges handling the case against Duterte. She is also one of two ICC judges being asked by the Duterte camp to be disqualified from handling his case.
