The defense team of former president Rodrigo Duterte has petitioned Pre-Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to impose “stringent” rules on the participation of the drug war victims in the impending trial, notably their identification which must be verified through a national identity card or a passport with a recent photograph.Duterte’s lead legal counsel, Nicholas Kaufman, asserted that by limiting the types of identity documents for the applications of the victims and the persons acting on their behalf, the ICC “will enhance the reliability of the identity verification process and significantly reduce the risk of fraud.”If both types of IDs are unavailable, Kaufman said the ICC should require IDs in the “staggered fashion” mandated by the Social Security System.“The use of varied and insufficiently verified identity documents could lead to misidentification, double-counting, and the inclusion of false victims — issues that could trigger unnecessary and time-consuming litigation,” the Israeli-British lawyer said in a 7 April document submitted to the ICC.“By adopting a more stringent approach from the outset, the Pre-Trial Chamber can avoid such pitfalls and streamline the proceedings,” he added. Based on the document, the ICC Registry has allowed the submission of government-issued IDs as identification documents for applicants, citing the backlog in the distribution of the Philippine national ID. The defense team, however, called the rationale “vague,” arguing that the non-sequential list “unjustifiably” expands the identification process. ‘Anti-poor’ICC assistant to counsel Kristina Conti, one of the lawyers of the victims of extrajudicial killings, vowed to block the move of Duterte’s defense team, branding it a “clear” attempt to limit the victims’ participation in the trial.She criticized it as “out of touch, unrealistic, and anti-poor,” saying that most of the indirect victims, or the relatives of the drug war casualties, have no financial means to produce such requirements. “This is an attempt to reduce the number of victims who wish to participate. That’s why we just want to make it clear that even if there are only 10 victims who will participate, the case will continue. So I think it’s pointless to limit it further,” she said in an interview.Conti said the indirect victims are those who will stand before the court judges as a “third party” during the trial, separate from the prosecution’s witnesses. “If it’s just a participating victim, they don’t need to prove the case, but they only need to be qualified as a victim and be able to state what their perspective is. So it’s a bit different but both are important to the ICC,” she explained. “Their appearance in court is for their interest. They will be required to give their views and concerns.”The prosecution has furnished the chamber and Duterte’s defense team with its set of evidence, totaling 181 items. Duterte’s camp has until 11 April to submit its counter-evidence.In addition to the strict ID requirement, Kaufman is trying to convince the ICC that the victims of the bloody drug war should be represented solely by the Office of Public Counsel for Victims.To ensure uninterrupted legal representation, the Registry requested the chamber’s approval for the victims’ original lawyers to make submissions before the ICC until their common legal counsel is finalized.However, Kaufman argued that allowing this would result in “twice the number of submissions” to the ICC.“It will be unwieldy, unnecessarily encumber the defense, and slow down the proceedings. This will impact on Mr. Duterte’s right to a speedy judicial process,” Kaufman said. The 80-year-old Duterte is under ICC custody following his arrest on 11 March in Manila. He is facing a charge of crimes against humanity for 43 extrajudicial killings in the drug war between 1 November 2011 and 16 March 2019, including those executed by the Davao Death Squad when he was Davao City mayor. At present, Duterte faces a single charge, specifically murder. However, ICC-accredited lawyer Gilbert Andres has projected that it could be augmented if the prosecution presents an additional set of evidence when the confirmation of charges hearing begins on 23 September.