Duterte makes courtroom debut as defense struggles with mountain of evidence

Filed 1h ago · Via Courthouse News · The Buffoon Desk

THIS STORY IS SCORED

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Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: Geossegawa · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

Rodrigo Duterte made his first in-person appearance at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, where his lawyers said they cannot possibly review nearly 20,000 pieces of evidence before trial begins Nov. 30.

The former Philippine president faces crimes against humanity charges over the deadly antidrug crackdown he oversaw as president starting in 2016. Prosecutors want 193 hours to question witnesses while the defense pleads for a smaller, better-organized case file; Judge Joanna Korner gave both sides a week each to hash out their complaints in writing.

In a separate ruling the same day, judges ordered Duterte to remain jailed, citing flight and witness-interference risks that his medical reports did not outweigh. His fitness to stand trial remains undecided, with written rulings on that and other pending requests still to come.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

A trial date and a mountain of unread paperwork are having a standoff, and the paperwork looks like it's winning. When a court has to ask itself whether anyone can actually finish reading the evidence before the trial they scheduled, that is not a technicality, that is the whole show running behind schedule before it even opens.

Source: Read the original at Courthouse News → Scored: Double Polka · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

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