Former president Rodrigo Duterte’s defense team argued that the number of individuals killed in his administration’s anti-drug campaign was “minimal” relative to the number of arrests made.
Duterte’s lead counsel, Nicholas Kaufman, made the statement on the third day of the confirmation of charges hearing before the International Criminal Court (ICC), where Duterte faces three counts of crimes against humanity.
Kaufman cited data from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency showing that 5,281 drug suspects were killed from July 1, 2016, to Feb. 28, 2019, representing only 3 percent of total arrests during that period.
“The prosecution neglected to contextualize that in comparison to the number of arrests and operations conducted, the number of deaths is minimal,” Kaufman said.
He added: “If I may just conclude, the only thing that is widespread here — or rather spread wide — is the utility of the prosecution’s statistics.”
The ICC hearing seeks to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to move Duterte’s case to a full trial over the bloody war on drugs, which government records show killed at least 6,000 people, while human rights groups estimate more than 30,000 deaths.
The confirmation of charges hearing began on Feb. 23 and will continue until Friday, Feb. 27.
