Will Australia host Duterte’s interim release from The Hague detention?
Duterte’s daughter, Sara, said her father’s lawyers were looking at Australia for his release to a third-party country
Australia is a possible destination for the interim release of the Philippines’ former president, Rodrigo Duterte, who is currently being held at the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) detention centre in the Netherlands.
Philippines’ Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio said her father’s lawyers were looking at Australia for his release to a third-party country, The Philippine Star newspaper reported on Tuesday.
Duterte has been detained in The Hague since March over alleged crimes linked to his administration’s “war on drugs”, a campaign that resulted in thousands of deaths among suspected drug dealers and users.
The former president, who claimed the arrest was unlawful and equal to kidnapping, has petitioned the ICC for an interim release to another country earlier this month, according to his lawyer.
Duterte-Carpio flew to Melbourne last Tuesday for a week-long visit which she said was a “personal trip” instead of a holiday or to scout for a possible location for her father if he was released.
“I am not here for the interim release, not for this visit,” she said on Sunday, according to ABS-CBN News. “I am here to discuss with the Filipino community on ways forward for our country, and of course how we can push the administration to do more for our country.”
Also on Sunday, Duterte-Carpio attended a political rally demanding her father’s release and gave a speech, during which she sought an informal meeting with Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong.
“Unfortunately, she is unable to meet me on Monday. So, I will not be visiting Australian government officials for this visit but I do hope I can meet them in my next visit,” she said.
“I informed her informally through a message that I am here in Australia and I am here to do a rally today. If she is available for a very brief quick chat, because I met her in the Philippines when she visited, I just want to say a ‘friendly hello’. Nothing official.”
The vice-president also urged Filipinos in Melbourne to persuade the Australian government and other foreign leaders to address the alleged injustices against her father. “You talk to the government of Australia. Come together, sit down, come up with a position paper.”
She claimed she could not discuss with her father details of his interim release request as the ICC was supposedly eavesdropping.
Duterte’s lawyers petitioned the ICC to grant him an interim release to a third country on June 12, citing his advanced age and a vow not to flee or commit any crimes, Reuters reported. One country was willing to house him, they said, without naming it.
Duterte-Carpio too is battling legal troubles of her own. In December, four impeachment complaints were filed against her. The allegations ranged from conspiring to assassinate President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr, misusing public funds for bribery, and having ties to extrajudicial killings in Davao City.
The House of Representatives, many of them Marcos allies, endorsed the impeachment complaint on February 5, making Duterte-Carpio the first vice-president of the country to be impeached. On Monday, she filed a 34-page response, asking the court to dismiss the case.
