Duterte’s Spox Harry Roque Speaks Anew on Accusations vs. Former President
HARRY ROQUE – The former presidential spokesman reiterated their camp’s claim that there was allegedly no formal order from former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte to kill.
It has been a year now since former Pres. Rodrigo Duterte was arrested by the Philippine authorities who assisted the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol). On the very same day of March 11 last year, Duterte was flown out of the country for the transfer of his custody to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands.
Duterte is faced with three (3) counts of murder as alleged crimes against humanity filed by the ICC prosecution. The confirmation of charges hearing recently ran from February 23 to February 27 but the former President skipped the hearing.
Instead, former Pres. Rodrigo Duterte was represented by his lawyer, Nicholas Kaufman. Six (6) Filipino lawyers including former Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea and former presidential chief legal counsel Salvador Panelo were added to Duterte’s ICC legal team as well.
At the confirmation of charges hearing held by the ICC, Nicholas Kaufman asserted the alleged “innocence” of former Pres. Rodrigo Duterte claiming that there was no direct order from the former President to kill drug suspects. The Filipino always claimed that there were allegedly not enough evidence to support their allegations.
Following the confirmation of charges hearing, the ICC upheld the detention of former Pres. Rodrigo Duterte. The foreign court rejected all the arguments of the Defense team of the former President. Recently, his former spokesman, Harry Roque, reiterated the claim of the Duterte camp anew.
Through a post on social media, Harry Roque stressed that there was allegedly no formal order from then-Pres. Rodrigo Roa Duterte to kill. According to Roque, there was no written order for it.
“Walang opisyal na pag-uutos si Tatay Digong na pumatay. Walang nakasulat na ganyang pag-uutos,” Roque stated.
Amid the ICC detention of the former President, lawyer Nicholas Kaufman claimed that former Pres. Rodrigo Duterte wants to be remembered as a faithful servant of the people. In his previous letter to the foreign court, he stated that he might die in prison.