ICC chamber rejects Duterte defense team's bid to limit acceptable IDs for kin of drug war victims

The Pre-Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court (ICC) rejected former president Rodrigo Duterte's defense team's proposal to limit the acceptable identity documents for relatives of the victims of the drug war, and instead will allow various types of government IDs for their participation in the proceedings.

- By RAYMUND ANTΟΝΙΟ

The easing of the identification rules meant that the PTC would not limit the acceptable IDs to passports or National IDs, which Duterte's defense team argued would prevent misidentification of victims and their families in the former president's crimes against humanity of murder case at the ICC.

This was stated in the 20-page "Order on the conduct of confirmation proceedings" uploaded on April 17 on the ICC website.

The Pre-Trial Chamber (PTC) I agreed with the ICC Registry's suggestion to consider multiple government IDs in the absence of passports and National IDS for individuals to be recognized as family members or relatives of the drug war victims.

The Registry provides administrative and judicial support to the Court.

"The Chamber considers that the Registry has provided sufficient information regarding each document that it proposes to accept as proof of identity for victim applicants, including the issuing entity and samples. This information, together with the procedure for admission of victims to participate in the proceedings adopted above, already ensures the 'reliability of the identity verification process and significantly reduces the risk of fraud'," the PTC said.

"In light of these considerations, the Chamber accepts the documents proposed by the Registry as proof of identity for applicants and those acting on their behalf," it added.