The defense team of detained former president Rodrigo Duterte has formally requested that two International Criminal Court (ICC) judges be disqualified from ruling on the challenge to the court’s jurisdiction.
Lawyer Nicholas Kaufman argued that Judges María del Socorro Flores Liera and Reine Adélaïde Sophie Alapini-Gansou were previously involved in rulings on similar legal issues, raising concerns of partiality.
The request was filed before the ICC Presidency, which handles matters of judicial disqualification under the court’s procedural rules.
Kaufman emphasized that Alapini-Gansou, being the ICC’s second vice president, should also recuse herself from deciding on the disqualification request.
However, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan countered that prior legal determinations do not constitute bias and that the defense failed to prove any appearance of impropriety.
Source: PhilNews24 | May 14, 2025
