ICC judges deny bias

MANILA, Philippines — Maintaining there are no grounds to doubt their impartiality, two judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC) have sought the dismissal of the disqualification bid filed against them by the defense team of former president Rodrigo Duterte.

In an internal memorandum made public this week, judges Maria del Socorro Flores Liera and Reine Adelaide Sophie Alapini-Gansou of the Pre-Trial Chamber (PTC) I urged the tribunal’s plenary of judges to reject the disqualification request of the defense.

“At the outset, we stress that, fully mindful of the provisions of the Rome Statute and the Code of Judicial Ethics, we take very seriously our solemn undertaking to exercise our judicial functions impartially and conscientiously and always abide by them,” read the three-page observation submitted by Liera and Alapini-Gansou on May 22.

“We see no grounds in the current case that would have required us to seek to be excused or that could lead to our disqualification,” they added.

Duterte, through defense lawyer Nicholas Kaufman, earlier claimed that the conditions were already satisfied to warrant the disqualification of the two judges from ruling on the jurisdiction issue.

“The judges have had prior involvement in the most substantive legal question in the case against Mr. Duterte. As such, the jurisdictional issues at the situational and case levels are not just similar; they are identical: both concern the issue of jurisdiction,” wrote Kaufman.

“It is not reasonable to expect a judge who has recently expressed a highly publicized position on a specific legal issue to depart from that view,” he added.