THE HAGUE: War crimes prosecutors said Friday they will ask the International Criminal Court’s judges for permission to launch a full-blown probe into crimes committed in war-torn Afghanistan.
“In due course, I will file my request for judicial authorization to open an investigation, submitting that there is a reasonable basis to believe that war crimes and crimes against humanity have been committed in connection with the armed conflict in Afghanistan,” chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said in a statement.
“Following a meticulous preliminary examination... I have come to the conclusion that all legal criteria to commence an investigation has been met,” the Hague-based court’s chief prosecutor said.
During a lengthy probe first made public in 2007, the ICC has been looking at possible war crimes dating back to 2003 by the Taliban, Afghan government forces and international forces including US troops.
Bensouda a year ago said her office was “concluding its assessment” but postponed her decision in July after her investigators received “substantial” new information from Kabul.
In what is likely to become a hot-potato issue, Bensouda has previously said US forces may have committed war crimes in Afghanistan by torturing prisoners in what may have been a deliberate policy.
She stressed that the Taliban militia and the affiliated Haqqani network, Afghan government forces and US troops as well as the CIA all appeared to have carried out war crimes since the Islamic militia was ousted by a US-led invasion in 2001 which followed the September 11 attacks that year.
Bensouda blamed the Taliban and its allies for the deaths of some 17,000 civilians since 2007 to December 2015 in a brutal insurgency with “numerous attacks” on schools, hospitals and mosques.
ICC war crimes prosecutors seek to open Afghan probe
ICC war crimes prosecutors seek to open Afghan probe
Duterte killed thousands, ICC prosecutors say
- His defense team countered that Duterte had murdered no one and that the prosecution’s argument was based on “hearsay” and “conjecture“
- “He’s proud of his killings. He wants to be remembered for them,” said Julian Nicholls, summing up for the prosecution
THE HAGUE: Rodrigo Duterte killed thousands during his anti-drug campaign, an International Criminal Court prosecutor alleged Friday, as the crimes against humanity hearing against the former Philippines president wrapped up.
His defense team countered that Duterte had murdered no one and that the prosecution’s argument was based on “hearsay” and “conjecture,” falling far short of the bar needed to confirm the charges against him.
“He’s proud of his killings. He wants to be remembered for them,” said Julian Nicholls, summing up for the prosecution.
“Decades of murdering his own people, murdering the children of the Philippines, and he claims that he did it all for his country. He doesn’t deny it.
“He ran a death squad in Davao (city) that he created. He ran it for over 20 years before he became president. His promise was to kill thousands and he did.”
Throughout the week, a panel of three judges has heard from the prosecution, defense, and victims’ representatives as they weigh whether to proceed to a full trial.
Duterte has not been in the courtroom. The defense says he is too ill to attend. Victims say he does not want to face the loved ones of those he killed.
He faces three counts of crimes against humanity over his so-called “war on drugs” when he was mayor of Davao City and then as president of the Philippines.
The prosecution has put forward 76 cases of alleged murder, which they say is an “emblematic fraction” of those killed, which rights groups say number thousands.
Duterte’s defense lawyer Nicholas Kaufman, summing up his case, said that if his client could be faulted for anything, it was his “inappropriate choice of language.”
“But he murdered nobody,” Kaufman told the court.
He urged the judges not to confirm the charges and to free Duterte to “live out the rest of his days in peace” in the Philippines.
He said that during a visit to explain proceedings to his client, he “lost the desire to follow me within a minute.”
However, he cited the former leader as asking how the prosecutors could prove that he murdered anyone, again denying the charges against him.
Gilbert Andres, a lawyer representing victims, summed up by saying that his clients experienced defense rebuttals “like their murdered loved-ones are being murdered again.”
He called on the court to confirm the charges so that the victims can be “reintegrated into their communities.”
Following the hearing, judges will have up to 60 days to issue a written verdict.
They can confirm all of the charges and proceed to trial, throw out some of the charges, or reject the case outright, in which case Duterte would walk free.
