ICC releases proposed application process for victims to participate in Duterte case

MANILA, April 4 ------ The International Criminal Court (ICC) has released its proposed application process for victims participating in the crimes against humanity case of former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. The document, dated April 2, was submitted by the Registry’s Victims Participation and Reparations Section (VPRS). Included in the document are guidelines for the admission process for applicants seeking to participate in the proceedings, as well as application forms for participation. Information on identity documents available in the Philippines, and which can be used to verify the identity of applicants, were also included in the document. 

ICC Assistant to the Counsel Kristina Conti, in a Facebook post, highlighted the inclusion of the household application form in the case against Duterte, which she considers as “functional mechanisms” in the process. “Victims, along with their support teams and legal counsels, will follow the guidelines closely and comply as necessary. The household application form (versus individual application forms), the enumeration of acceptable identity cards, and other accommodations of the realities in the Philippines are well appreciated as functional mechanisms,” she said. 

According to the document, the victim applicants will be classified into three groups: applicants who clearly qualify as victims (Group A); applicants who clearly do not qualify as victims (Group B) and applicants who cannot be clearly determined by the Registry (Group C). In the case of Group C, the Registry said it will transmit the applications to the Chamber for its final decision. The VPRS also proposed the use of household forms, which “would enable all indirect victims within the same household, where members of the group have suffered personal harm resulting from the killing of the same direct victim(s), to jointly complete one form.” 

Family members, either nuclear or extended, as well as “individuals who are not blood-related, but can demonstrate sufficient proximity with the direct victim of murder” such as “close friends living together with a personal bond”, can use the household application form. According to VPRS, the household form has been previously used in the case of Uganda’s Joseph Kony, and the concept of household forms has been tested with “convincing results”. 

Similarly, the Registry identified the identity documents that can be used in the application, which includes all Philippine government issued IDs and documents like police clearance, National Bureau of Investigation clearance, passport, national ID, and Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program ID card, among others. Philippine Statistics Authority issued documents and baptismal certificates will also be accepted. According to Conti, they are hoping that the release of said guidelines will encourage other victims of Duterte to “come forward and engage with the ICC”. “In turn, we hope that volunteers and larger networks, such as the Duterte Panagutin campaign, will also pitch in,” she added. 

Duterte was arrested on March 11 on his arrival from Hong Kong on a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court, through Interpol, as part of its probe into his "war on drugs" that defined his presidency. The ICC warrant for Duterte's arrest said that as president, the 80-year-old Duterte allegedly created, funded, and armed death squads that carried out murders of purported drug users and dealers. He was brought to The Hague in the Netherlands on the same day he was arrested. Duterte on March 14 appeared via video link before ICC judges. He is set to attend a September 25 hearing to confirm the charges against him. 

Source: news.abs-cbn.com