Roque, Medialdea not part of Duterte's ICC defense team

Updated Fri, March 21, 2025 at 12:52 AM Published Tue, March 18, 2025 at 2:11 AM

Vice President Sara Duterte confirmed that former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque and former executive secretary Salvador Medialdea will not be part of former President Rodrigo Duterte's defense team for his International Criminal Court (ICC) case.

VP Sara Duterte clarified that Roque will not be included to avoid complications, especially as he is seeking asylum in the Netherlands.

Roque stated that he respects the Dutertes' decision and will not force them to choose him, emphasizing that while he is one of the few Filipino lawyers recognized by the ICC, any decision must also have VP Sara Duterte's endorsement.

The defense team is headed by British-Israeli lawyer Nicholas Kaufman, and they are interviewing other lawyers to join.

Medialdea is set to withdraw from the counsel once the team is finalized to accommodate lawyers with specific ICC experience, as there are limited slots available for the legal team.

Topics in this story

Explore more stories about these topics.

Rodrigo Duterte Sara Duterte Harry Roque International Criminal Court Netherlands Salvador Medialdea Nicholas Kaufman

🤖

This story was generated by AI to help you understand the key points. For more detailed coverage, please see the news articles from trusted media outlets below.

News Sources

See how different news organizations are covering this story. Below are the original articles from various Philippine news sources that contributed to this summary.