Article author:
Associated Press
Jim Gomez
Manila, Philippines (AP) — Opposition leaders urge Philippine new president Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to regain membership in the International Criminal Court on Friday I requested. Strengthen defense against human rights violations.
Former President Rodrigo Duterte, whose six-year term ended Thursday, is a treaty that created the ICC in 2019 after a Hague-based court began preliminary examination of thousands of people. Withdrew ratification of Roman law. Of the killings during his campaign against illegal drugs.
Critics said Duterte's move was an attempt to avoid accountability. However, ICC prosecutors said the court still had jurisdiction over the alleged crime while the Philippines was still a member of the court.
"The better we are members of a community that shares human rights values," Senator Lisa Hontiveros quoted the epidemic of domestic rights infringement and extrajudicial killings. Said.
Former Senator Leila Delima, who was detained, said that regaining ICC membership would improve the country's image and "protect people from crimes against humanity committed by state forces."
There was no immediate response from Marcos Jr.
Delima, one of the most intense critics of Duterte's anti-drug movement, she persuaded Duterte and his supporters to threaten other critics.
Former police officer Arturo Lascanas, who previously worked for Duterte when he was the mayor of southern Davao, suspected 10,000 drugs during the crackdown on Duterte. About the drug there that said it could have been killed in the city.
Duterte has expanded his crackdown nationwide after taking office in mid-2016. Authorities reported that more than 6,250 suspects were killed during his presidency.
Duterte denied permission for extrajudicial killings, but he openly threatened drug suspects.
Hidden outside the Philippines, Laskanas testified in a video interview about the possibility of an ICC trial and is ready to provide evidence that Duterte ordered and funded many killings in Davao. He said it was done. Lascanas said he and other Davao police officers were involved in the killings ordered by Duterte.
The ICC investigation into the killings of possible crimes against humanity was suspended in November after the Duterte administration stated that it was conducting its own police investigation. rice field. However, the ICC's chief prosecutor recently requested the court to approve the immediate resumption of the investigation.
The ICC is a court of last resort for crimes that countries do not want or cannot prosecute themselves. It was officially created 20 years ago on July 1, 2022.
Edre Olaria, a group of human rights lawyers from the National Federation of Bar Associations, said Marcos Jr. is unlikely to agree to the restoration. National ICC membership.
The president sworn on Thursday was the son of the deceased dictator Ferdinand Marcos, whose rule was characterized by massive infringement and looting. He was banished in the 1986 democratic uprising.
He and the daughter of the former President, the new Vice President Sara Duterte, defended the legacy of their father.
"We think it's a long shot under current political power," Oralia said.
