Duterte spokesman filing for asylum in Netherlands

MANILA - A lawyer for Mr Rodrigo Duterte, who has been speaking for the family since the

former Philippine president’s shock arrest

and transfer to The Hague, has announced plans to file for asylum in the Netherlands.

Mr Harry Roque, who served two stints as Mr Duterte’s presidential spokesman, left the Philippines in September after being cited for contempt for refusing to attend hearings into offshore gambling sites used as fronts for criminal activities.

He re-emerged at Mr Duterte’s side last week after the former president was flown to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to face a crime against humanity charge tied to his bloody crackdown on drugs, in which thousands were killed.

“I’m filing formally for asylum here in the Netherlands,” Mr Roque told a Facebook live press briefing on March 17.

“I am confident that I can prove political persecution through unjust prosecution,” he said, referencing an arrest warrant issued by a congressional committee.

Mr Roque, one of five Philippine lawyers currently on the ICC’s “list of counsel” able to represent defendants at the tribunal, has said he expects to be part of the former president’s defence team.

That work would prevent him from returning home, he told reporters.

“I cannot come home. I have to defend my president as a member of the list counsel of the ICC at the Hague,” he said.

He declined to say if he might return when the case concludes.

Presidential palace spokeswoman Claire Castro said on March 18 that Mr Roque’s asylum bid would have “no effect on the cases he is facing”.

“How can there be political persecution if all the pieces of evidence are overwhelming?“ she asked, citing documents allegedly tying him to the now-banned gambling sites.

Mr Roque’s briefing follows an announcement by Vice-President Sara Duterte that Mr Nicholas Kaufman, a veteran international lawyer, had been added to her father’s legal team.

Mr Kaufman has previously represented clients at The Hague, including former Congolese rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba and the late Libyan dictator’s daughter Aisha Gaddafi. While the Duterte camp has referred to him as lead counsel, Mr Kaufman said on March 17 his role had “yet to be precisely determined”. AFP