MANILA, Philippines – Hihingi ng tulong si Veronica “Kitty” Duterte sa Korte Suprema na pabalikin ang kanyang ama na si dating Pangulong Rodrigo Duterte sa Pilipinas kasunod ng pag-aresto ng International Criminal Court (ICC), ayon kay Atty. Salvador Panelo.
Tutulungan niya at ng kanyang anak na si Salvador Paolo Jr., si Veronica sa paghahain nito ng petisyon para sa writ of habeas corpus para maibalik sa bansa ang dating Pangulo matapos ilipad palabas ng bansa kagabi.
Sa pahayag, sinabi ni Panelo na ang petisyon ay “against the Philippine government for detaining a Filipino citizen, former President Rodrigo Duterte, kidnapping him, and surrendering him to a foreign institution.”
“The petition will ask the Supreme Court to compel the government to bring him back, and for it to account for its constitutional transgressions on the rights of PRRD (Duterte), and its unpatriotic and abject surrender of the country’s sovereignty to ICC, that has no jurisdiction over the former,” aniya.
“The petitioner will be Veronica A. Duterte, the former president’s daughter,” dagdag pa ni Panelo.
Ayon kay Panelo, ang pag-aresto sa dating Pangulo ay labag sa batas.
“He was deprived of legal representation at the time of his arrest. The PNP could not have a hard copy [of] the warrant arrest. By not allowing one of his lawyers to meet him, the arresting [officer] could avoid being asked if they have the hard copy of the arrest warrant,” ani Panelo.
“It is an illegal arrest because the ICC arrest warrant comes from a spurious source, the ICC, which has no jurisdiction over the Philippines,” dagdag niya. RNT/JGC
