MANILA, Philippines — In what could be a big setback to groups accusing President Rodrigo Duterte of human rights violations, a lawyer on Tuesday said the case he had filed with the International Criminal Court accusing President Duterte against humanity on his bloody war on drugs.

Lawyer Jude Josue Sabio said Tuesday said he is now withdrawing the complaint he had filed with the in ICC.

Sabio said is going to mail his 28-page sworn statement and will later personally hand to ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda his “communication.”

He said he will then ask the ICC for it to be “set aside and ‘thrashed’ for being just a part of the political propaganda” of the opposition led by the Liberal Party (LP).

His recommendation, Sabio said, is for the whole case be discarded since it emanated from polluted sources.

The 53-year-old Sabio added that he changed his mind about prosecuting the President for extrajudicial killings (EJKs) after he found that the political opposition had no moral ascendancy to accuse Duterte.

The sudden turnaround was motivated partly by the “pittance” he allegedly received as payment from opposition figures for his services.

In a report, Sabio was allegedly accompanied to a lawyer’s office where he signed the statement by Duterte supporter and defeated senatorial candidate Lorenzo Gadon, who showed reporters excerpts of the document and photos of Sabio signing it.

Sabio told the ICC prosecutor that he refused to be used as a tool by Duterte’s critics led by former Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, with whom he had a falling-out over the discredited “Bikoy” videos, and detained Sen. Leila de Lima. (IAMIGO/Currentph.com)