00:01Duterte Defense Counsel Nicholas Kaufman argues substantial grounds required to bring the case
00:06to trial at the ICC have not been met. The ICC prosecution says the Philippine probe was
00:12independent and court-funded. Political party NUP withholds support for the latest impeachment
00:18bid against Vice President Sara Duterte in the House of Representatives. U.S. President Donald
00:23Trump lays out his case for a possible attack on Iran. And a Hong Kong court overturns media
00:29owner Jimmy Lai's fraud conviction. Duterte lead Defense Counsel Nicholas Kaufman presents his
00:42submissions on merits on day three of the confirmation of charges hearing against
00:46former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte at the International Criminal Court or ICC.
00:51Kaufman argues that the prosecution has not met the substantial grounds required by the court to
00:56bring the case against Duterte to trial. He focuses on what he calls a lack of evidence for criminal
01:01intent and the contextual elements of crimes against humanity. He says the so-called common plan mentioned
01:07by prosecutors was a legitimate, widely supported crime suppression strategy, not a criminal plan
01:13to murder. Kaufman also asserts there is no causal nexus linking Duterte's statements directly to the 49
01:19incidents of murder. There is no smoking gun in this case and that is not for want of a desperate
01:27attempt to find one on the part of the prosecution with all their leading questions when they interviewed
01:35their criminal cooperating witnesses. The Defense Counsel also alleges that the alleged widespread or
01:41systematic attack against a civilian population is unsubstantiated. He claims the targeted group of
01:47suspected drug pushers and criminals is an arbitrary subgroup, not a legally defined civilian population.
01:54Crappler also talks to lawyer Ross Tugade, law professor and assistant to counsel at the ICC.
01:59Tugade comments on Kaufman's assertions that Duterte's speeches were just colorful narrative and did not
02:04show crafty design. Tugade says speeches, especially the impromptu ones, show intent and it is allowed in
02:11the ICC framework to establish a criminal pattern or modus operandi. Tugade also clarifies the meaning of the
02:17term civilian population within the framework of the Rome Statute.
02:21So in the elements of crimes, if you read there in the text, it says any civilian population. The word
02:28any there is not accidental. Any civilian population means any one part of the population.
02:37The International Criminal Court prosecution says its Philippine investigation was done independently
02:43and funded by a court-approved budget. This when Rappler asked the office of the prosecutor to
02:48respond to allegations of former soldiers that they delivered cash to former Senator Antonio Trillanes
02:53IV, allegedly to help fund the activities of ICC investigators when they came to the Philippines
02:58from 2023 to 2025. An affidavit began circulating on the second day of the pre-trial hearing of former
03:04President Rodrigo Duterte at The Hague, alleging that hotel accommodations for ICC personnel were paid for
03:10with funds supposedly linked to resigned Congressman Zaldi Co. Denying the ex-soldiers' allegations,
03:16Trillanes says he will file cyber-libel complaints against them and their lawyer, Levi Baligod.
03:22The National Unity Party says it is unlikely to support the latest impeachment drive against
03:27Vice President Sara Duterte. The NUP is the second biggest political party in the country and the
03:32largest voting bloc after Lakas with around 30 members. The party adds, quote,
03:37Unless compelling new evidence emerges during the course of these hearings that fundamentally
03:42alters the factual basis for the impeachment complaint, the NUP will most likely not vote
03:46in favor of the measure. The stance of the NUP drew attention as most of its members supported
03:51the impeachment complaint against the Vice President in the 19th Congress. The complaint was approved by
03:56the House but the Senate trial did not proceed after the Supreme Court stepped in. The NUP statement came
04:02a week after Duterte announced her bid for president in 2028, a move analysts said could test her support
04:08among lawmakers. Impeachment campaigners could still gather the 105 to 106 votes needed to meet
04:14the one-third threshold even without the NUP votes. U.S. President Donald Trump briefly lays out his case
04:21for a possible attack on Iran in his State of the Union speech to Congress. He says he will not
04:26allow
04:26the world's biggest sponsor of terrorism to have a nuclear weapon. Trump also points to Tehran's
04:32support for militant groups, its killing of protesters, and the country's missile and nuclear
04:36programs as threats to the region and the United States.
04:39For decades it had been the policy of the United States never to allow Iran to obtain
04:44a nuclear weapon many decades. Since they seized control of that proud nation 47 years ago, the regime
04:53and its murderous proxies have spread nothing but terrorism and death and hate.
04:58Meantime, Iran says its nuclear research is for civilian energy production only. Iran's foreign ministry
05:04spokesperson Ismail Baghey says claims about Iran's nuclear program, intercontinental ballistic missiles,
05:10and the reported death toll in the January unrest were false and merely repeated what he described
05:15as big lies. A Hong Kong court overturns the fraud conviction and prison sentence of pro-democracy
05:23media tycoon Jimmy Lai. This in a surprise legal decision that comes soon after Lai was sentenced
05:28to jail for 20 years on a separate national security charge. Judges say they allowed the appeal from Lai
05:35to proceed as a lower court judge had erred. Even with the quashing of the fraud conviction and
05:40sentence, Lai will still remain in prison for 20 years, over two counts of conspiracy to collude
05:44with foreign forces and one for publishing seditious materials. This legal victory was a rare one for
05:50the prominent China critic who faced multiple prosecutions in recent years. Lai, founder of the
05:55now-defunct Apple Daily, was among many activists arrested in the aftermath of Hong Kong's 2019 pro-democracy
06:01protests. The 78-year-old British citizen has denied all the charges against him and calls himself a
06:07political prisoner facing persecution from Beijing.
06:12And that's today's wrap. I'm JC Gutinga. Thank you for watching. Click the link below for the full story.
06:17For more updates, download the Rappler app.
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