Former presidential legal counsel Salvador Medialdea as former President Rodrigo Duterte’s legal counsel. Screen grab from ICC Pre-trial Chamber hearing

MANILA, Philippines – Former executive secretary Salvador Medialdea who represented former President Rodrigo Duterte at the Pre-trial Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) told the judges that the delivery of the ex-state chief to its head quarters at The Hague, Netherlands was “pure and simple kidnapping.”

In a manifestation, Medialdea denounced the manner by which the former president was extracted from the Philippines and brought before the international tribunal.

“Two days ago, the whole world witnessed the degrading fashion in which the former president of a sovereign country was bundled into a private aircraft and somberly transported to the Hague. To us lawyers, this would be called an extrajudicial rendition,” Medialdea said.

“To the less-legally inclined, this is a pure and simple kidnapping. My client was denied all access to the legal recourse in the country of his citizenship, and this all in the nature of political score-settling,” he said. 

Duterte appeared on video link as the chamber’s consideration to his long flight to The Hague. 

He was arrested on Tuesday upon his arrival to the Philippines from Hong Kong, detained at the Villamor Air Base and flown to the Netherlands all in less than 24 hours. 

Duterte, who wasn’t seen by the public until his appearance at the pre-trial chamber, wore a blue suit and looked and sounded frail during the hearing. Observably, the former president looked sleepy, often closing his eyes as the proceedings went on. 

The 79-year-old former president was asked only of his name, date and place of birth. 

Unlikely alliance 

Medialdea also claimed that the Marcos administration and the ICC scored an “unlikely alliance” in arresting Duterte. 

“Two troubled entities struck an unlikely alliance. An incumbent president who wished to neutralize and choke the legacy of my client and his daughter, on the other hand, and a troubled legal institution subject to delegitimization and desperate for a price cut and a legal show,” Medialdea said. 

Medialdea relayed circumstances of Duterte’s arrest that substantiate the supposed alliance. 

“With this in mind, it is not surprising that my client was abducted from his country. ICC private jets do not drop out of the thin air. That jet which received my client was coordinated in advance,” he said. 

“The UAE is not a state party to the ICC and has no obligation to cooperate with the court. Yet my client sat in transit in that country for more than five hours,” he said. 

He then challenged the registry’s representative to justify to the judges why the arrest was anything but a “gross abuse of process.” 

Procedural irregularities 

Medialdea pointed out some procedural irregularities from the time and manner of Duterte’s arrest up to the regulations they were subjected to at the ICC. 

The former executive secretary highlighted that he was only able to meet the former president the morning of the pre-trial hearing given barely an hour to discuss legal issues adding that he wasn’t even able to show Duterte a hard copy of the warrant because they were not granted such. 

“Other than to identify himself, my client is not able to contribute anything to this hearing,” he said. 

His request for the court to postpone the substantive aspect of this hearing until next week was rejected by the chamber since the only purpose of the hearing was to inform him of crimes alleged, rights and set a date for the confirmation of charges. 

The ICC pre-trial was led by Presiding Judge Iulia Antoanella Motoc, a Romanian.