Lawyer to hale Aquino to int’l court for crimes vs humanity

Lawyer Harry Roque. RYAN LEAGOGO/INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Lawyer Harry Roque has unveiled plans to file a complaint in the International Criminal Court (ICC) against President Benigno Aquino III’s perceived inaction on media killings, particularly on the Maguindanao Massacre.

Roque made this announcement after a videochat session on Thursday with University of California, Irvine professor David Kaye, the United Nations (UN) special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression.

The videochat was held during Roque’s Public International Law class at the University of the Philippines College of Law in Diliman, Quezon City, in commemoration of the fifth anniversary of the Maguindanao Massacre.

Roque, also the chairman of the Center for International Law (CenterLaw), brought to the videochat session 12 of 15 families CenterLaw represents in the Maguindanao massacre case, to pose their questions to Kaye.

“My class in public international law is currently drafting a complaint for crimes against humanity against President Aquino on the basis of superior responsibility. He has failed to investigate, prosecute and punish the perpetrators of extralegal killings particularly against journalists in this country,” Roque announced, after the videochat.

“Of course, [Aquino’s] defense is that he came out with Administrative Order 23 creating yet another task force to address these extralegal killings. But that is not the discharge of obligation we expect. We want convictions. And the one percent conviction rate for extralegal killings is unacceptable and proof that he is criminally liable for crimes against humanity,” Roque said.

Roque said the complaint will be filed by the end of the year.

The possibility of filing such a complaint for the Maguindanao Massacre was raised with Kaye during the videochat session, to which Kaye admitted: “There’s little doubt in my mind that the atrocity merits being characterized as a crime against humanity. The scale and the motivation behind the murders really suggest that it should be considered a crime against humanity.”