Duterte's legal team appeals to ICC for 'immediate, unconditional release

Former president Rodrigo Duterte’s legal team has filed an appeal with the International Criminal Court (ICC), urging the court to “order his immediate and unconditional release” and challenging its jurisdiction over him.

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In a 21-page appeal brief uploaded on the ICC website on Friday, November 14, Duterte’s lawyers asked the Appeals Chamber to “reverse its impugned decision” and to declare that “there exists no legal basis for the continuation of International Criminal Court proceedings against Mr. Rodrigo Roa Duterte.”

The defense argued that the Pre-Trial Chamber I made errors in its previous ruling on the jurisdiction of the court.

While the Chamber agreed that Article 12(2) of the Rome Statute requires a state to be a party at the time the Court exercises jurisdiction, it nonetheless ruled that the ICC could still assert jurisdiction even after a state has withdrawn, citing Article 127(2) as lex specialis, or the more specific law taking precedence over general provisions.

“The Pre-Trial Chamber formulated a novel doctrine for extending the exercise of jurisdiction beyond the effective date of a State Party’s withdrawal,” the defense said.

The legal team identified what it described as “three further errors of law and fact” in the ICC’s decision: