(UPDATE) THE International Criminal Court's (ICC) decision to deny the request of former president Rodrigo Duterte's camp to restrict identity documents for participating victims in the drug war case is a significant victory for justice and efficiency, Kristina Conti, counsel to several families of victims of extrajudicial killings, said Tuesday. the victims already have government-issued documents." Conti emphasized that expanding acceptable IDs ensures fairness, particularly because many of the marginalized families affected by the Duterte administration's anti-drug campaign have no passports or national IDs. The ICC's Victims Participation and Reparations Section has established a system to classify applications: Category A for those with complete documents, B for those outside jurisdiction or without IDs, and C for questionable or alternative IDs. In a separate but related development, Conti welcomed the Court of Appeals' recent decision upholding the conviction of Caloocan police officers in the 2017 killing of teenagers Carl Arnaiz and Reynaldo de Guzman. It shows a pattern and a modus — the court recognized the killings were committed by police under the drug war." Conti linked the ruling to the ICC probe. Read Full Story
