A Facebook (FB) post reported about a supposed dissenting opinion of International Criminal Court (ICC) judges on the Philippines’ war on drugs case at The Hague. This needs context. The dissenting opinion was made in July 2023 when the the Appeals Court on an affirmative vote of 3-2 decided to resume ICC investigation.
A reader sent a request to VERA Files’ Messenger Misinformation Tipline to verify a March 12 FB post. The post caption read:
“Two ICC Judges argued that the Duterte Trial is OUT of their jurisdiction. In an earlier decision, ICC Judges Brichambaut (Chief Judge) and Lordkipanidze argued that the ICC doesn’t have jurisdiction over the “Philippine Situation”, the case regarding the War on Drugs pending before ICC, because the Philippines is no longer a State Party under the Rome Statue. In the jurisdictional decision, the vote was close 3 in favor, 2 against including the Chief Judge.”
The post contained a link to the dissenting opinion issued by ICC judges Marc Perin de Brichambaut and Gocha Lordkipanidze. It also had a collage containing images of the two judges and a line from the opinion encircled in red, which read:
“For the foregoing reasons, we consider that the Pre-Trial Chamber erred in law in concluding that the Court had jurisdiction over the Philippines Situation despite the Philippines’ withdrawal from the Rome Statute. As a result, we would have granted the Philippines first ground of appeal and found that the Court cannot exercise jurisdiction in the Philippines Situation. Consequently, we would have found the remaining grounds of appeal moot. We would also have directed the Pre-Trial Chamber to withdraw its authorisation for the Prosecutor’s investigation and discontinue all proceedings in the situation.”
Commenters under the post had the impression that the decision was issued to stop this week’s arrest of former president Rodrigo Duterte over the ICC investigation into his administration’s war on drugs.
Appeals Court judges Brichambaut and Lordkipanidze issued their dissenting opinion on the decision to resume the ICC investigation into Duterte’s war on drugs, which the Philippine government appealed to stop in 2023.
The two judges argued that the ICC no longer had jurisdiction over the country due to the Philippines’ withdrawal as signatory from the Rome Statute (not Statue as indicated in the post caption) effective since March 17, 2019.
However, the investigation continued on July 18, 2023 following an affirmative vote of 3-2 at the Appeals Court.
Read the full story on VERA Files Fact Check.
