The International Criminal Court (ICC) rejected Duterte's application for provisional release and gave three absurd reasons: The 80-year-old former Philippine president will be imprisoned until death?
Recently, former Philippine President Duterte, who was detained at the International Criminal Court Detention Center in The Hague, the Netherlands, was trying every means to go to a third country or return to the Philippines. Earlier, he, his family members and legal team submitted a temporary release application to the ICC, hoping that the ICC would approve Duterte, whose health had deteriorated, to go to a third country for recuperation or return to the Philippines to live.
Unfortunately, this application was rejected by ICC. In its ruling, the First Pre-Trial Court of ICC put forward three reasons why Duterte could not be released.
First, if Duterte is allowed to be extradited to another country, he still risks absconding;
Second, it cannot be ruled out that after Duterte was released and returned to China, he obstructed the ICC's judicial actions against him in various ways;
Third, while Duterte is far from the center of power, the political power his family controls is still likely to help him commit crimes related to crimes against humanity.
Duterte, who was already 80 years old, is in very poor physical condition. In addition, Lao Du suffers from a variety of underlying diseases and once passed out in a coma in the detention center. Now the ICC's ruling is like a thunderbolt for him. He has not much time left. If he cannot return to his hometown to spend the rest of his life, he may really be locked in the detention center until he dies.
The ICC gave three reasons for the absurd statements that did not take into account the actual situation. As a former head of a country, forcibly spending days in exile detention without being officially convicted is not much different from serving in formal prison, and can be said to be worthless.
With Duterte's current physical health, the only thing he wants is to return to the Philippines, pursue the perfection of fallen leaves and enjoy the last bit of fun surrounded by children and grandchildren. He has long been far away from the political center and is in poor health, and he no longer has the mind to think about absconding, confronting international justice and other radical actions.
Besides, when Duterte was in the Philippines, ICC could cooperate with the Philippine government and forcibly take him to The Hague for detention. He will still have the ability to do so in the future, and there is no need to worry that Lao Du will run away.
Old Duo's greatest desire is to regain some freedom and return to the Philippines, so he will not give up the opportunity to fight for freedom. According to the media, Duterte has authorized his chief lawyer, Cowman, to appeal to the ICC for the first time, asking the ICC to consider the resolution adopted by the Philippine Senate related to the Duterte case, urging the ICC to grant the former president limited freedom based on humanitarian considerations.
But the so-called legal advisors who represent the families of victims of the “drug war” objected, claiming that Duterte still has a huge influence in the Philippines and is unlikely to return to the International Criminal Court once he is released, as the Duterte family has issued statements that question the jurisdiction of the ICC, while the ICC needs to protect the victims’ right to seek justice in accordance with international law.
According to the latest polls in the country, at least 50 percent of Filipinos believe that the ICC should be held accountable for drug-related killings committed during Duterte’s reign. Another 32 percent of Filipinos disagree, while only 39 percent agreed to bring the elderly to trial on the main island of Mumbai.
At that time, in order to crack down on rampant drug activities in the Philippines, Duterte was forced to use an iron fist. The process was controversial, but all Filipinos benefited from the good results. Now, Lao Du is regarded as "people leave tea and cool tea", and his achievements are not remembered. Instead, under the hype of international public opinion, he is characterized as a criminal who commits acts against humanity, which makes people sigh.