Duterte suffering ‘significant memory impairment’: Defense

Under ICC rules, proceedings cannot continue if a defendant is unable to understand the charges or participate meaningfully in his or her defense.(AFP) — Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is suffering from severe memory loss that sometimes causes him to forget his lawyer’s name, according to the defense team preparing his case at the International Criminal Court.Duterte, 81, faces crimes against humanity charges at the ICC over his so-called “war on drugs,” during which thousands of people were killed, according to prosecutors.His trial is scheduled to begin Nov. 30, but judges are considering whether he is mentally fit to stand trial and have ordered an assessment by three medical experts.The assessment has not been made public, but Duterte’s defense team and the ICC prosecutor responded to it in documents dated Sept. 14 and published Tuesday on the ICC’s website.Duterte “suffers from significant memory impairment that prevents him from retaining recent information and reliably accessing memories,” according to the defense team’s 13-page submission.The impairment makes it impossible for him to engage with the case, “let alone give proper instructions to his lead counsel, whose name he only sometimes remembers,” chief defense lawyer Peter Haynes said.Haynes said he was being forced to prepare the case without meaningful input from his client.The prosecution, in its own heavily redacted seven-page submission, concluded that Duterte was “capable of meaningfully exercising his procedural and fair trial rights, and that he is fit for trial.”Under ICC rules, proceedings cannot continue if a defendant is unable to understand the charges or participate meaningfully in his or her defense.‘Incomplete and inadequate’The defense team also criticized the panel of doctors, calling its report “incomplete and inadequate” and requesting that its members be cross-examined.According to the defense submission, the experts concluded that Duterte “may not have been fully applying himself” during testing, making the results difficult to interpret.However, the experts were unable to determine whether Duterte’s results stemmed from “malingering or a lack of motivation” or “a genuine inability to … complete the tests as a consequence of an underlying neurological condition,” the defense team said.The defense cited examination results that it said showed Duterte believed he was living in 2007 or 2008, thought he was 84 or 85 years old and could not recall the name of the current U.S. president.Haynes said in his submission that those memory lapses made it impossible for Duterte’s lawyers to prepare his defense because they could not rely on the information he provided.Such mental impairment would also affect any potential courtroom defense, Haynes said.“Where he cannot remember when he was last elected in the Philippines, for example, any finding that Mr. Duterte could give accurate testimony in his own defense would accordingly be unreasonable,” he said.Since his arrest and transfer to The Hague, where the court is based, Duterte has been seen only once, appearing by video link at an initial hearing.He appeared dazed and confused, mumbling as he confirmed his name and appearing to doze off during the proceedings.His defense team has since requested that he be allowed to miss subsequent hearings on health grounds.Presiding Judge Joanna Korner has urged him to appear at a pretrial hearing Wednesday. No defense request for an exemption has been made public.That means Duterte could appear in person at the ICC. If he does, he would be the first former Asian head of state to appear before the court in person.Duterte faces three counts of crimes against humanity, with prosecutors alleging that he was involved in at least 76 murders between 2013 and 2018 during his crackdown on drug users and sellers.Duterte’s understanding of the charges against him is “at best, rudimentary,” Haynes said.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads