Rody camp seeks disqualification of ICC prosecutor

Citing supposed "grievous" conflict of interest, the legal team of former president Rodrigo Duterte has sought the disqualification of International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Karim Khan from any further role in the case.

- With Bella Cariaso

In a 14-page request released Thursday night, Duterte's defense lawyer Nicholas Kaufman accused Khan of "irreconcilable conflict of interest" for representing drug war victims in an undisclosed case before he assumed his present role at the ICC.

Khan, who is currently on leave, has yet to comment on the matter.

In his filing, Kauffman said Khan "first acted in his capacity as a private lawyer for... victims of the so-called war on drugs."

He accused Khan of "exploiting" the information that he supposedly acquired as a victims' representative when he became the ICC prosecutor.

"Mr. Khan relied on information obtained while defending the independent interests of the victims to support actions falling under an entirely separate mandate—one that also carries the obligation to disclose exculpatory evidence," claimed Kaufman.

"In these circumstances, and absent information to the contrary, Mr. Khan abused the criminal process to push forward an investigation in which he had an undeclared personal interest or, at the very least, an undeclared personal obligation from which he had not sought to release himself," he added.