Former President Rodrigo Duterte’s legal team has refiled a formal request to disqualify two International Criminal Court (ICC) judges from ruling on jurisdictional issues in his case, claiming that their prior involvement compromises their impartiality.
Defense lawyer Nicholas Kaufman submitted the request to the ICC Presidency, targeting Judges María del Socorro Flores Liera and Reine Adélaïde Sophie Alapini-Gansou. The defense argues that both judges were previously involved in authorizing the ICC’s investigation into Duterte’s anti-drug campaign, making them unsuitable to rule on jurisdictional matters.
“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,” Kaufman stated in the filing.
The ICC Presidency, consisting of the court’s president and two vice presidents, will decide on the request. However, the defense insists that Alapini-Gansou, who also serves as the ICC’s second vice president, should be excluded from the decision-making process due to her dual role.
