Duterte lawyer asks Marcos admin to bring him home

Former President Rodrigo Duterte’s lead counsel has urged the Marcos administration to allow the former leader to return to the Philippines and be temporarily released here, claiming his “deteriorating” health has made him struggle to guide his defense at the International Criminal Court.

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Defense lawyer Nicholas Kaufman said on Tuesday, September 9, that Duterte’s medical condition has progressively worsened since his detention, affecting “his ability to assimilate the evidence and to give his lawyers proper instructions.”

“The Defence sincerely hopes that the current administration, which sought fit to outsource its obligation to afford the former President a fair trial in the country of his birth, will now let him return home to face whatever judicial process is necessary, if at all, with dignity,” Kaufman said, adding that this would serve as the former leader’s interim release until the legal proceedings at the ICC conclude.

Kaufman’s remarks come after the ICC’s pretrial chamber — in a decision Monday — postponed Duterte’s September 23 confirmation of charges hearing indefinitely to determine whether the 80-year-old is fit to participate in proceedings.

The postponement followed a defense motion filed August 18, claiming Duterte was mentally or physically unable to participate in the proceedings and requesting that “all legal proceedings, including the hearing on the confirmation of charges, be adjourned indefinitely.”

Kaufman on Tuesday stressed the defense’s medical assessment of Duterte was “supported by leading medical experts, including one not selected by the Defence,” though he provided no details about the experts or their findings.

He described Duterte’s alleged health decline as linked to what he called his “precipitous and traumatic rendition” to ICC custody.