Philippines cuts contacts with ICC after decision to continue investigating drug war

March 28 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, known as ‘Bongbong’, announced on Tuesday that the country has decided to cut off all its contacts and communications with the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the time being after the court rejected the appeal. presented by the Government to shelve the court’s investigation into the “war on drugs” of former President Rodrigo Duterte.

Marcos has indicated that the country “cannot continue working with the TPI considering that there are serious doubts about its jurisdiction and what it considers a series of interferences and attacks against the country’s sovereignty.”

“From our point of view, this appeal has failed, and there is nothing more we can do. That is why we have decided to suspend any contact or communication with them,” he said during a press conference, according to information from the newspaper ‘The Philippine Star’. ‘.

Despite the Philippines’ withdrawal from the ICC in 2018, a move that took effect in 2019, Manila still had certain obligations under the Rome Statute. The ICC thus continues to have jurisdiction over crimes committed when the Philippines was still a member of the court.

The words of the Philippine president come one day after the Court of Appeals of the TPI rejected the request of the Philippines to reverse the judicial decision that endorsed the reopening of the investigation into the so-called “war on drugs” of the previous Administration, which It would have claimed up to 12,000 fatalities.

The court, which is based in The Hague, reported in January that one of its chambers agreed to the request of the CFI Prosecutor’s Office to resume the investigations as it was not “satisfied” with the measures adopted by the Philippine government.

The TPI investigation is based on a complaint filed in 2018 by non-governmental organizations and relatives of victims of the “war on drugs”. However, the Philippine government has repeatedly maintained that the CFI does not have jurisdiction to try these crimes and withdrew the country from the Treaty of Rome that supports the Court on March 17, 2019. The court, in response, ensures that it is trained to investigate possible crimes committed by signatory states during the time they adhered to the treaty.