MANILA, Philippines — International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Khan has asked the tribunal's Appeals Chamber to dismiss an application made by the Philippine government to again suspend the preliminary investigation into former President Rodrigo Duterte's bloody "war on drugs."
"The Prosecution accordingly respectfully requests the Appeals Chamber to reject the Philippines’ request for suspensive effect of the Decision," said Khan in a signed statement, Thursday (Netherlands time).
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"The granting of suspensive effect leads to the 'non-enforcement of a decision, the subject of the appeal'... If suspensive effect is granted, the Prosecution would be required to suspend its investigation pending the resolution of the Philippines’ appeal against the Decision," he added.
Official figures from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency states that around 6,252 people died from anti-drug operations from July 2016 to May 2022. However, human rights organizations point to a much higher 30,000 casualties — some of them were believed to have been summarily killed.
The Philippine government earlier said it "disagrees with, and hereby rejects” the conclusions made by the pre-trial chamber in its earlier ruling.
While government officials claim that the ICC no longer has jurisdiction over the country after it withrew from the Rome Statute, the treaty that created the ICC, the international court explains that the prosecutor can investigate crimes that happened in the country when it was still a member (from November 1, 2011 to March 16, 2019).
"The Prosecution submits that granting suspensive effect is not necessary in the circumstances of this case. The Philippines has not provided any argument substantiating its request for suspensive effect, nor shown that implementation of the Decision would create an irreversible situation or one that would be very difficult to correct or that could potentially defeat the purpose of the appeal," said the prosecutor.
"No such grounds for granting suspensive effect exist. While the Appeals Chamber decides on the merits of the appeal, the Philippines can continue with its investigations and domestic proceedings irrespective of the ongoing Prosecution’s investigation."
However, Khan acknowledged that the Chamber also has the power to reverse, confirm or amen their earlier decision irrespective of the prosecution's investigation.
Should the Appeals Chamber decide to reverse the decision, any investigation by the prosecution would eventually be discountinued.
An afront to Philippine sovereignty?
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Saturday, again lambasted the ICC's ongoing probe into the drug war as a "threat to Philippine sovereignty," maintaining that it was no power over the Philippines.
“There are many questions about their jurisdiction and what we in the Philippines regard as an intrusion into our internal matters and a threat to our sovereignty," he said.
"We do not need assistance from any outside entity. The Philippines is a sovereign nation and we are not colonies anymore of these former imperialists.”
Just this January, Duterte reiterated through his former spokesperson Harry Roque that he will never cooperate with the ICC's investigation, noting that he will only answer to Philippine courts.
Sen. Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa, who once lead the bloody campaign as the chief of the Philippine National Police, said this participation would depend on the Marcos administration.