In a landmark ruling that clears the way for what would be the first trial of a former Asian head of state at the International Criminal Court, ICC appeals judges have formally dismissed Rodrigo Duterte’s legal challenge to the court’s authority to hear his alleged crimes against humanity case connected to his brutal anti-drug campaign.
The 81-year-old former Philippine president stands accused of three counts of crimes against humanity, stemming from thousands of extrajudicial killings carried out during his crackdown on illegal drug users and traffickers. The allegations cover two periods of his public service: his tenure as mayor of Davao City from 2013 to 2016, and his term as Philippine president up until March 2019, when the Philippines officially withdrew its membership from the ICC.
Duterte’s legal team had long argued that the court held no jurisdiction over crimes allegedly committed on Philippine soil, arguing that the nation’s exit from the Rome Statute – the ICC’s founding governing treaty – removed all judicial authority over the country. Prosecutors pushed back against this claim, noting that all the alleged abuses occurred while the Philippines remained an active ICC member, and that the court had opened its investigation into Duterte’s campaign well before the nation’s withdrawal took effect.
An ICC pre-trial chamber first upheld the prosecution’s position in an initial October ruling, prompting Duterte’s defence to file the appeal that was dismissed this week. Presiding judge Luz del Carmen Ibañez Carranza confirmed Wednesday that the court rejected all four legal grounds laid out in Duterte’s appeal. With the full appeal thrown out, she added, the defence’s request for the immediate and unconditional discharge of Duterte from the court’s process is now moot.
Nicholas Kaufman, lead defence counsel for Duterte, noted the outcome came as no surprise. He pointed out that Duterte’s case is the only high-profile matter remaining on the ICC’s active docket, saying that allowing the appeal would have effectively cleared the court’s entire schedule of major cases.
The ruling now moves the process to the next critical phase: judges are currently weighing whether to confirm the three charges against Duterte, a final procedural step that must be completed before a full trial can begin. If confirmed, the trial will mark a historic first for the ICC, as it would be the first time the court has tried a former head of state from Asia.
During February pre-trial hearings, prosecutors laid out their core case, arguing Duterte bears direct responsibility for the thousands of deaths that occurred throughout his years-long war on drugs. Defence lawyers countered that there is no conclusive “smoking gun” evidence linking Duterte’s incendiary public rhetoric and threats against drug-related suspects to the actual killings that took place.
Despite the procedural progress, it remains highly unlikely that Duterte will ever appear in person at the ICC’s The Hague courtroom. The court already granted his request to skip in-person attendance at February’s hearings, with his legal team citing poor mental fitness to participate. Duterte has only appeared once before the court since his initial process began, during a remote videolink initial appearance where observers described him as confused and visibly exhausted. He was also absent for Wednesday’s public reading of the appeal ruling.