According to the Hague schedule, Duterte’s charges hearing was scheduled to be held on 23rd of this month, but in the days before, the old Duo team filed a request saying Duo’s condition was worrisome and feared he could not appear in court so he hoped to postpone the proceedings indefinitely.
In addition, his lawyer also specifically explained the status quo of Old Duck, lawyer Kaufman said: Old Du now because of memory impairment, not only do not remember new things and information,It is also difficult to remember the past, so to accuse the related events and the time and place mentioned, he could not think of, Sometimes he doesn’t even remember his family or members of the defense team.Sometimes he wondered why he was being held here, and could not understand the nature and consequences of the lawsuits against him.
and Duterte
Based on these reasons, Old Duo could not follow the relevant appeal process, nor could he defend himself, nor could he appear in court for interrogation, so if he was allowed to participate in the litigation procedure, the result could only be invalid.
More seriously, the old duo is now in the situation even after taking drugs or psychological interventions, The best condition may be “stagnant” and may even worsen.
Following the receipt of the application, the Hague side also conducted a trial and investigation, and the final first pre-trial division agreed with Duterte's request for the cancellation of the hearing with the result of 2:1, and when exactly it will be held, will be decided after the assessment of Duterte's body.
For The Hague, this is a precedent for the old duo.A number of detainees have made similar requests before, but all have been rejected by The Hague.
For example, former Bosnian leader Karadzic also resisted appearing in court when he was tried by the International Criminal Court on former Yugoslavia and asked for more time to prepare for self-defense, but the court eventually rejected his request for a 10-month extension and considered it a “voluntary and explicit refusal to appear” and ultimately decided to continue the trial in his absence.
Kenya’s Vice President William Ruto, who in 2013 had postponed the trial of the Ruto case from April to May, gave the defendant only an additional six weeks of preparation and explicitly rejected the request for an indefinite delay.
And this time the agreement, a large part of the reason is actually the Hague clear, The old duo now becomes like that, and the Hague side is unable to get rid of it.
During the long-term suffering from a number of more serious diseases, in 2019 was diagnosed with severe muscle impotence, while also suffering from diabetes and its complications, daily need for regular injections of insulin to maintain blood sugar, the digestive system has been not very good.
The Hague Trial Site
Having served as the mayor of Davos for more than twenty years, he has had a long-standing collaboration with private doctors and medical teams, so the control of illness has always been possible.But after the arrival of The Hague, although the detention center here is equipped with medical facilities, the drug control conditions and the allocation of medical resources have not been able to meet the complex needs of Old Duck. It was previously that the supply of old duo medicines was interrupted several times, and the conditions did not follow, and the physical condition naturally deteriorated.
In addition to the widespread involvement of the Duterte case and the very high political sensitivity, The Hague naturally also considers that forcibly advancing the trial in the case of the defendant’s health is so poor that it is highly likely to damage the fairness of the procedure and the image of the court, while they also do not want Duterte to have a major change in health during detention or trial, even the worst situation, when the court will face huge public pressures and moral accusations.
On the contrary, from Duterte’s point of view, the extension of the application is also controlling the risk.
For Old Duo, this hearing of charges will be crucial, and if the accusations can be overturned, the innocence and freedom can be regained, but if these crimes fall on him, then he is afraid that he will end up old in another country.
At the moment, some of the so-called “victims” who have filed charges against him have been prepared enough.
The Hague has previously announced that more than 300 people have applied to call themselves victims of the "war on drugs", and at the end of August this year, the Hague also gave 15 of them privileges, in the future they will face Old Duo in court, questioning Old Duo on relevant cases.
In addition, these so-called victims submitted a bunch of documents to the Prosecutor’s Office in The Hague early on, with a total of 181 evidence, with the very clear purpose of giving the old Duck the accusation of “crimes against humanity.” Even the little Marcos was also pushing for help, a retired police officer allegedly had traveled to Malaysia, preparing to meet with the Hague investigators, allegedly with internal documents and Duck’s instructions in her hands, enough to make Duck difficult to reverse.
The Duterte Supporters
In this case, it is clear that there is not much certainty on the part of Duterte. Therefore, the struggle to postpone the trial indefinitely for health reasons has actually earned precious time for him and his team of lawyers.In order to better prepare for tactics, gather evidence to refute, and even re-evaluate the global situation, it can be said that delaying at this moment has become a means of defense to retreat.
In the coming months, two things will be crucial: first, whether Duterte’s lawyers can find strong evidence to refute the allegations; and second, whether the Hague will not give a clear “delay deadline.”