Former President Rodrigo Duterte’s legal counsel on Wednesday said they will argue before the International Criminal Court (ICC) that he was denied all of his rights in the Philippines. 

“He was completely denied all his rights in the Philippines. That would obviously be a major argument in the course of his defense,” British-Israeli lawyer Nicholas Kaufman told reporters in an ambush interview.

He issued the remark when asked if their camp would cite Article 59 of the Rome Statute.

Duterte’s allies are questioning his arrest, citing Article 59 of the statute. Section 2 of the article states that “a person arrested shall be brought promptly before the competent judicial authority in the custodial State.”

The former president’s allies argue that Duterte should have been presented before Philippines courts while government officials said that the prosecutors present during Duterte’s arrest on March 11 served as the competent judicial authority.

Kaufman said they will file all necessary applications in due course.

However, he declined to comment on their defense strategy, saying he was not prepared to do so at that moment.

Kaufman, meanwhile, said he was “confident” that Duterte will be acquitted.

“I’m very confident of the strongest defense possible and I am very confident that he will be acquitted indeed, even in the earliest stage possible,” he said.

Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla has said that the government did not surrender Duterte based on Article 59 but based on Republic Act 9851 or the Philippine Act on Crimes Against International Humanitarian Law, Genocide, and Other Crimes Against Humanity.

Section 17 of the Act states that the Philippines may dispense with the investigation or prosecution of a case “if another court or international tribunal is already conducting the investigation or undertaking the prosecution of such crime. Instead, the authorities may surrender or extradite suspected or accused persons in the Philippines to the appropriate international court.”

The government also said that there was no “unlawful restraint, illegal confinement or imprisonment without sufficient legal basis” of the former president.

Duterte is currently under the custody of the ICC following his arrest on March 11.

He appeared before the ICC for the first time last Friday via video conferencing.

(Reports from Joahna Lei Casilao, GMA Integrated News)