THE ICC DECEPTION EXPOSED

By Optic Politics

The Affidavit Exposes ICC Deception: How Prosecutors Twisted Truth Against Duterte

OPTIC Politics | February 26, 2026




On February 23, 2026, the International Criminal Court, under Prosecutor Julian Nicholls, attempted to weaponize a video recording against former President Rodrigo Duterte, presenting it to a global audience as evidence of extrajudicial killings allegedly ignored by the Philippine leader. Yet the sworn affidavit of Davao journalist Ben Jason Tesiorna exposes this narrative as a deliberate, reckless, and legally indefensible distortion.

Tesiorna’s affidavit details that he recorded the footage on December 19, 2013, during a media demonstration of Davao City’s newly installed Central 911 CCTV system. The purpose of this recording was straightforward: to showcase the system’s ability to capture incidents clearly, both in real time and for review. The footage was archival, not a live crime scene. No killings occurred during the demonstration. Police officers, city officials, journalists, and President Duterte himself were present; none reported a crime at that moment, because none existed. Tesiorna also documented that Duterte, during the demonstration, expressed concern that such footage could later be misrepresented—a prescient warning ignored by the ICC.

Nicholls’ prosecution spliced the video, added unauthorized English subtitles, and broadcast it worldwide, implying real-time killings and presidential inaction. Tesiorna explicitly states he never authorized the video’s use. By presenting the footage as evidence of crimes against humanity, the ICC violated copyright law, jeopardized Tesiorna’s personal safety, and misled the international community. This manipulation misrepresents the record of events, framing Duterte in a false light and transforming a technical demonstration into a pretext for legal condemnation.

The affidavit also confirms that the purported killings had already been investigated by local authorities prior to the demo. Tesiorna possesses separate news reports and police records that prove no new crime occurred on the day of the demonstration. The ICC’s claim that Duterte failed to act is therefore baseless, contradicting both factual evidence and procedural reality.

Legally, morally, and constitutionally, the prosecution’s reliance on doctored evidence undermines the principles of due process and international law. Courts of record must honor truth, not theatrics. By misrepresenting archival footage as live evidence, the ICC risks eroding public trust, endangering journalists, and weaponizing law for political effect. Tesiorna’s affidavit, sworn, detailed, and precise, demonstrates beyond doubt that the prosecution’s case rests on manipulation, not evidence.

This affidavit is a decisive indictment of ICC recklessness. It calls for immediate action: removal of the video from court records, a public apology from the prosecutor, and acknowledgment that evidence must be used responsibly. Failure to do so will cement a dangerous precedent: that international justice can be co-opted by narrative theater, that sovereignty and due process can be subverted, and that truth itself can be sacrificed for political optics.

History will judge this episode not as a legal proceeding but as a warning: when courts distort fact, manipulate evidence, and misrepresent leaders for spectacle, they betray the very ideals they are sworn to uphold. The affidavit does more than challenge the ICC—it exposes its fallibility, protects truth, and affirms that justice, when divorced from fact, becomes nothing more than a global illusion.

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#debt #freedom #justice #history #ASEAN #usa #japan #canada #singapore #dubai #Duterte #ICC #affidavit #truth #journalism #internationaljustice #law #misrepresentation #corruption #philippines

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