Former International Criminal Court Judge Raul Pangalangan believes the prosecution has sufficient evidence on its hands to secure the conviction of former President Rodrigo Duterte in the crimes against humanity case against him over drug war killings.
Speaking on Bilyonaryo News Channel’s “The Spokes,” Pangalangan said the prosecution would not have advanced to the trial stage if it did not have evidence.
“For me, the prosecution wouldn’t have gotten this far if they didn’t have the goods on Duterte,” Pangalangan said.
He also said he has seen how it has prepared for the case.
He also noted that the ICC prosecution takes its duty seriously to disclose evidence to the defense, even exculpatory ones.
“So if you look at the disclosures so far, I think they have enough material on their side,” he said.
He also said the prosecution does not need to prove each of the 6,500 killings being attributed to Duterte’s campaign for him to be found guilty of crimes against humanity.
“They just have to establish the pattern because the charge is the crime against humanity of murder. So they don’t have to prove each and every one of those 6,500 deaths, they just have to establish a few of them,” he said.
He said the key element is to establish the mode of attribution, or Duterte’s participation.
The participation can be indirect, he added.
Duterte’s trial is scheduled to begin on November 30.