Puro media sources eh! Duterte downplays ICC probe into drug killings

By Prince Golez

President Rodrigo Duterte “shrugged off” the report of outgoing International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda on the country’s “war on drugs” campaign because its preliminary examination was based on media reports, Malacañang said.

“I sent a copy of the press release made by the prosecutor’s office and a day later I sent a copy of the 52-page opinion of the prosecutor and immediately his reaction was, ‘Bakit ganito ito? Bakit puro Rappler, ABS-CBN ang sina-cite ng prosecutor’,” Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a televised briefing Thursday.

On Monday, Bensouda requested authorization to open a formal investigation into the alleged crimes against humanity drug war between 2016 and 2019.

Roque stressed that media sources are considered “hearsay” and would not stand in court.

“After we saw the 52-page decision, knowing that they were citing Rappler, ABS-CBN, and Inquirer, eh medyo napayapa na kami because in law, all these newspaper accounts are mere hearsay,” according to him.

“He shrugged off the opinion after checking the media sources. All lawyers know that that would not stand in court. Since you need the judicial authorization to proceed to an investigation, lawyers know that you cannot start any proceedings on the basis of hearsay evidence,” he added.

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Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)