The International Criminal Court (ICC) has reiterated its commitment to preserving the physical and psychological well-being of all detainees, following Vice President Sara Duterte’s statement that her family received reports of former President Rodrigo Duterte being found unconscious in his detention room.
In a statement issued Saturday, Sept. 28, ICC spokesperson Fadi El Abdallah emphasized the Court’s strict adherence to privacy protocols: “Respecting the right to privacy, we do not comment on matters related to the private situation of a detained person.”
He added, “The Court also takes all necessary measures for the preservation of physical and psychological well-being of all detainees.”
The ICC official also addressed allegations that the Court endangered Duterte’s life and violated his privacy by permitting a welfare check from Philippine Embassy officials in The Hague.
El Abdallah clarified that such visits are conducted only with the detainee’s consent: “Such visits, if any, are strictly conducted with the approval or at the request of the person in detention.”
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) deferred to the ICC’s statement when asked about the former president’s medical condition.
It further clarified that the consular visit was carried out “by career consular officials of the Embassy in a professional, nonintrusive, and respectful manner, and not by any other supposed ‘agents of the government.’”
This as the Vice President alleged in a separate statement that the ICC allowed “agents of the government that abducted former president Rodrigo Roa Duterte to intrude upon him and exploit his frail and compromised health.”
‘FATIGUED’
Atty. Nicholas Kaufman, the former president’s lead counsel, said that the 80-year-old former leader reported “a couple of incidents” when he fell in his cell, with at least one incident that caused him to lose consciousness and had to be sent to the hospital where he was supposedly “assessed for cranial and brain injury.”
“The former President is fatigued from his detention and physically incapacitated by various medical conditions afflicting a person of his advanced age,” he added, while also criticizing the “surreptitious visit” of the embassy officials “to gather intelligence under the pretense of offering supposed ‘care and concern’ for the welfare of one its citizens.”
The Duterte camp is seeking the interim release of the former president to a third-party country, and is also urging the ICC’s pre-trial chamber for the adjournment of all legal proceedings against him because of his declining cognitive functions.
The former chief executive is facing multiple counts of murder charges for the thousands of killings in the name of his administration’s brutal drug war.
He was scheduled for a confirmation of charges hearing on Sept. 23 but this was postponed by the pre-trial court, citing the defense’s claim that Duterte is unfit to stand trial. (Raymund Antonio)
