The Worldwide Prison Court docket and Duterte’s bloody conflict on medication

Editor’s Word: This has been up to date since its earlier publication in 2022.

Developments proceed to unfold on the Worldwide Prison Court docket (ICC) in relation to the killings underneath the violent conflict on medication, a key coverage underneath former president Rodrigo Duterte. 

Authorities knowledge reveals that a minimum of 6,252 folks have died by the hands of the police throughout anti-illegal drug operations as of Might 31, 2022. This tally doesn’t embrace victims of vigilante-style killings, which human rights teams estimate to drag the quantity as much as round 30,000.

Paperwork obtained by Rappler, nevertheless, present that the Philippine Nationwide Police (PNP) already recorded 7,884 deaths between July 1, 2016 to August 31, 2020.

Households, human rights teams, and different stakeholders financial institution on the ICC to convey justice to the hundreds of victims, as home mechanisms show to be ineffective in what seems to be a futile quest for accountability. 

The Fee on Human Rights (CHR), mandated by the 1987 Philippine Structure to research state abuses, was stonewalled by the Duterte authorities in its personal probes – a recurring remedy even amongst different teams that attempt to help households of victims. 

What has occurred with the ICC proceedings to this point? Rappler lists key occasions involving the ICC and Duterte’s conflict on medication. We are going to replace this timeline as new data is available in. 

OCTOBER 13, 2016

Then-ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda says her workplace is keeping track of the incidents within the Philippines because the variety of deaths in drug conflict operations continues to rise nearly 4 months into the Duterte administration. 

In a assertion, she says her workplace “might be carefully following the developments… and file any occasion of incitement or resort to violence with a view to assessing whether or not a preliminary examination into the scenario of the Philippines must be opened.” 

With out naming any official, Bensouda additionally warns that “any particular person within the Philippines who incites or engages in acts of mass violence together with by ordering, requesting, encouraging or contributing, in another method, to the fee of crimes throughout the jurisdiction of the ICC is probably liable to prosecution earlier than the Court docket.”

NOVEMBER 17, 2016

Duterte threatens to withdraw the Philippines from being a member-state of the ICC. 

He calls the worldwide courtroom ineffective, saying it truly is unable to assist small nations. This may be the primary of many situations when the President would publicly threaten and insult the ICC, together with its officers. 

APRIL 24, 2017

Filipino lawyer Jude Sabio recordsdata a communication earlier than the ICC over the “repeatedly, unchangingly, and repeatedly” mass homicide within the Philippines. 

He requests the courtroom to “commit [Duterte] and his senior authorities officers to the Trial Chamber for trial and that the Trial Chamber in flip, after trial, convict them and sentence them to corresponding jail sentence or life imprisonment.”

Sabio was the lawyer of self-confessed Davao Dying Squad (DDS) member Edgar Matobato, who was the primary to publicly come out to accuse Duterte of being behind the killings in Davao Metropolis as mayor. 

Within the paperwork filed, Sabio says he has “direct proof past affordable doubt” that Duterte continued these killings on the nationwide degree. 

Sabio would later “withdraw” his communication in January 2020, however specialists level out this is not going to have an effect on the continued proceedings. He dies on April 12, 2021 because of cardiac arrest.

JUNE 6, 2017

Then-senator Antonio Trillanes IV and Magdalo consultant Gary Alejano file supplemental communication earlier than the ICC urging Bensouda to provoke a preliminary examination “to offer a glimmer of hope for the hundreds of victims that Duterte’s impunity would quickly finish.”

The 45-page doc the 2 submitted spotlight Duterte’s violent rhetoric, together with numerous pronouncements wherein he ordered the killings of suspected drug personalities. 

FEBRUARY 8, 2018

The ICC Workplace of the Prosecutor pronounces that it has initiated a preliminary examination to find out whether or not there’s enough proof to determine that the case falls underneath the courtroom’s jurisdiction. 

In a assertion, Bensouda says her workplace has determined to pursue this transfer “following a cautious, unbiased, and neutral evaluation of communications and studies documenting alleged crimes.”

Then-presidential spokesperson Harry Roque says Duterte welcomes this transfer “as a result of he’s sick and bored with being accused of the fee of crimes in opposition to humanity.”

MARCH 14, 2018

Duterte pronounces that the Philippines will withdraw as a member-state of the ICC. In a written assertion, the President says he’s “withdrawing [the country’s] ratification of the Rome Statute efficient instantly.”

However the Rome Statute, the ICC’s founding doc, explicitly states that withdrawal shall solely take impact “one 12 months after the date of receipt of the notification.” Ceasing to be a member-state may even not have an effect on prison investigations and proceedings which were began earlier than the withdrawal got here into impact.

MARCH 16, 2018

The Philippine authorities formally submits to the United Nations its written discover of withdrawal from the ICC. Within the letter, the federal government says its choice to withdraw displays the nation’s “principled stand in opposition to those that politicize and weaponize human rights.”

The transmission of the letter formally triggers the one-year ready interval earlier than the withdrawal takes impact. 

AUGUST 28, 2018

Households of drug conflict victims, by means of one other submitted communication, urge then-ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to indict and finally convict Duterte.

The households, convened underneath the Rise Up for Life and for Rights community, “name for an finish to insanity and for [Duterte], who has likened himself to probably the most evil males in historical past, to be introduced earlier than the ICC and be held to account for crimes in opposition to humanity.”

The human rights abuses underneath his administration “threaten the core rules of humanity itself, subsuming particular person sufferer experiences, and even state borders,” the households add.

MARCH 17, 2019 

The Philippines formally ceases to be a member-state of the ICC, a 12 months after the Duterte authorities first gave discover of its withdrawal as signatory to the Rome Statute.

Whereas withdrawing doesn’t hinder the ICC from transferring ahead with attainable proceedings, it’ll almost certainly make issues tough for investigators, particularly by way of getting cooperation from the Philippine authorities. 

DECEMBER 5, 2019 

Then-ICC prosecutor Bensouda says she goals to finalize her preliminary examination by 2020 so her workplace can “attain a call on whether or not to hunt [authorization] to open an investigation into the scenario within the Philippines.”

In a report, Bensouda says her workplace “considerably superior its evaluation” since 2018, including that they proceed to watch the scenario, together with studies of threats and harassment in opposition to human rights defenders.

NOVEMBER 11, 2020

Arturo Lascañas, former Davao Metropolis prime cop and self-confessed DDS hitman, indicators a Third Settlement on Restricted Use of Data with the ICC. The doc reveals that the ICC Workplace of the Prosecutor (OTP) is not going to use as proof in opposition to Lascañas his confessions about finishing up killings ordered by Duterte himself. 

That is unprecedented and thought of a primary in Philippine historical past. Worldwide human rights lawyer Ruben Carranza says this transfer is a type of use immunity, whereas former ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo says the doc implies that the OTP is treating the witness as an insider, though he may be a suspect.

This growth, nevertheless, solely turns into public in November 2021, as a part of Rappler’s investigation into Duterte and the Davao Dying Squad.

DECEMBER 15, 2020

Bensouda says there’s “affordable foundation to imagine that crimes in opposition to humanity” have been dedicated within the Philippines in reference to Duterte’s conflict on medication. These incidents, she factors out in a report, occurred a minimum of between July 1, 2016 to March 16, 2019 – a day earlier than the Philippines’ withdrawal from the ICC took impact. 

Her workplace, nevertheless, is but to succeed in a call on whether or not to hunt permission to open a proper investigation, given the challenges caused by restrictions associated to the coronavirus pandemic.

JANUARY 22, 2021

Households of drug conflict victims name on the ICC to carry Duterte accountable for allegedly impeding justice, together with situations when he repeatedly threatened Bensouda and the courtroom. 

In a supplemental pleading submitted to Bensouda, moms represented by the Nationwide Union of Peoples’ Attorneys say Duterte “must be held accountable for his blatant try to pervert the course of justice by intimidating and retaliating in opposition to the officers of the [ICC].”

MARCH 16, 2021 

The Supreme Court docket junks a petition questioning the validity of Duterte’s withdrawal from the ICC, together with whether or not he’s legally required to get the concurrence of the Senate in doing such act. 

The Excessive Court docket, voting unanimously, dismisses the petition as a result of it has develop into moot and tutorial.

It, nevertheless, says the federal government is obliged to cooperate with the ICC even when it has already withdrawn, based on the total doc launched months after on July 21, 2021. Regardless of this, Malacañang stays agency in its choice to not cooperate. 

JUNE 14, 2021

Then-ICC prosecutor Bensouda applies for authorization with the pre-trial chamber to open an investigation into the killings dedicated in the course of the conflict on medication and in Davao Metropolis from 2011 to 2016. 

Bensouda, in a report, says “extrajudicial killings, perpetrated throughout the Philippines, seem to have been dedicated pursuant to an official State coverage of the Philippine authorities.”

This transfer comes a day earlier than Bensouda, who has been publicly threatened by Duterte, retires from the ICC on June 15. She is changed by Karim Khan, who has intensive expertise working in worldwide prison tribunals. 

Households of drug conflict victims earlier name on Bensouda to “challenge a warrant of arrest in opposition to President Rodrigo Duterte and maintain him whereas trial is ongoing.”

SEPTEMBER 15, 2021 

The ICC’s pre-trial chamber greenlights the investigation into Duterte’s conflict on medication and killings in Davao Metropolis between 2011 and 2016. 

Within the choice, ICC judges conclude that “there’s a affordable foundation for the Prosecutor to proceed with an investigation, within the sense that the crime in opposition to humanity of homicide seems to have been dedicated.” 

The chamber additionally observes that “it’s also obvious” that killings happened “pursuant or in furtherance of a state coverage.” 

OCTOBER 7, 2021 

New ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan, who succeeded Bensouda, urges the Duterte authorities to cooperate along with his workplace within the conduct of an investigation into the killings underneath the conflict on medication, in addition to these dedicated in Davao Metropolis between 2011 and 2016.

In a press release, Khan says he stays “prepared to constructively interact with nationwide authorities in accordance with the precept of complementarity and our obligations underneath the Statute.”

The investigation, he provides, seeks “to uncover the reality and goals to make sure accountability,” in addition to focus their efforts to make sure a “profitable, unbiased, and neutral investigation.” 

NOVEMBER 10, 2021 

The Duterte authorities formally requests the ICC to cease the ongoing investigation into the Philippine scenario. 

Via a letter signed by Philippine Ambassador to the Netherlands J. Eduardo Malaya, the federal government avails of an possibility out there underneath the Rome Statute which permits it to ask the Prosecutor to defer the probe and acknowledge working home mechanisms. 

NOVEMBER 19, 2021 

ICC Prosecutor Khan pronounces that his workplace will quickly droop its investigation into the drug conflict killings within the Philippines however assures the general public they are going to “proceed its evaluation of data already in its possession in addition to new data it might obtain.” This transfer to pause the probe is a matter of process.

NOVEMBER 24, 2021

ICC Prosecutor Khan says they are going to ask the Duterte administration for proof that it’s genuinely investigating the killings underneath the violent conflict on medication.

In a press release, he says that “such data should include tangible proof, of probative worth and a enough diploma of specificity, demonstrating that concrete and progressive investigative steps have been or are at the moment being undertaken to establish the accountability of individuals for alleged conduct falling throughout the scope of the licensed ICC investigation.” 

JUNE 24, 2022

Khan recordsdata a request earlier than the ICC pre-trial chamber in search of to resume his workplace’s investigation into the killings underneath Duterte’s conflict on medication and people dedicated in Davao Metropolis between 2011 and 2016.  In a 53-page doc, Khan says data collated by his workplace “doesn’t show that concrete and progressive steps have been taken or are being taken by the competent nationwide authorities.”

He provides that the federal government failed to point out that any particular person has been probed “for ordering, planning, or instigating” the killings. He additionally says there isn’t a indication that “home authorities are investigating the alleged systematic nature of those and different killings.”

Khan additionally says the inter-agency drug conflict evaluation panel “doesn’t seem to own powers or authority unbiased of the [Department of Justice] or have any particular investigative perform.” What the DOJ-led panel did seems to be a mere “desk evaluation” that “by itself doesn’t represent investigative exercise.”

JUNE 26, 2022

In response, Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra says he respects Khan’s view however that “he ought to have waited for our efforts to bear some fruit.”

He added: “An investigation of this magnitude and complexity can’t be completed in a number of months.”

SEPTEMBER 22, 2022

ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan reiterates his workplace’s request to renew an investigation, including that the deferral requested by the Philippine authorities is “not warranted.”

SEPTEMBER 28, 2022

Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin “Boying” Remulla says Khan is doing the courtroom a “disservice” for difficult the Philippine system. The ICC, he insists, “can’t run roughshod over our system and say you’re a awful nation.”

JANUARY 26, 2023

The ICC pre-trial chamber reopens the investigation into the drug conflict killings. The chamber says it’s “not glad that the Philippines is enterprise related investigations that will warrant a deferral of the Court docket’s investigations on the idea of the complementarity precept.”

FEBRUARY 3, 2023

The Philippine authorities, represented by Solicitor Normal Menardo Guevarra, recordsdata its discover of attraction, asking the ICC to droop its choice to renew its probe into the killings.

FEBRUARY 18, 2023

ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan asks the courtroom’s appeals chamber to disclaim the Philippine authorities’s request to droop the probe. He argues that the Philippines “has not offered any argument substantiating its request for suspensive impact, nor proven that implementation of the choice would create an irreversible scenario or one that will be very tough to right or that would probably defeat the aim of the attraction.”

FEBRUARY 24, 2023

The principal counsel of the ICC’s Workplace of Public Counsel for Victims recordsdata a request to look earlier than the appeals chamber to signify the victims’ feedback on the Philippine authorities’s attraction. The workplace says “the problems on attraction essentially have an effect on the overall curiosity of the victims” and that stopping the probe could jeopardize the victims’ rights to “fact, justice, and reparations.” 

MARCH 2, 2023

The Philippine authorities recordsdata its movement to dam the request of households to be included within the proceedings.

MARCH 21, 2023

The ICC appeals chamber permits victims and their households to submit feedback earlier than the courtroom, rejecting the Philippine authorities’s transfer to dam this effort. In its choice, the chamber says it “considers it acceptable for victims to be concerned in these appeals proceedings.”

The chamber instructs the Victims Participation and Reparations Part (VPRS) to “acquire and transmit…representations from any victims and sufferer teams” and embrace these in a report back to be submitted by Might 22, 2023.

MARCH 13, 2023

The Philippine authorities’s OSG submits its attraction temporary to the ICC, reiterating that the prosecution’s continuation of the probe into the drug conflict killings lacks authorized basis and “would encroach on the sovereignty of the Republic of the Philippines.”

The federal government additionally requests the suspension of the continued investigation till its attraction is set on by the chamber.

MARCH 27, 2023

The ICC appeals chamber dismisses the Philippine authorities’s movement to droop the continued investigation throughout appeals proceedings. In its choice, the chamber highlights the “absence of persuasive causes in assist of ordering suspensive impact” that the Marcos administration sought in opposition to a courtroom ruling that allowed the probe to proceed.

Because of this ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan is free to proceed his workplace’s investigation into the violent conflict on medication, a transfer that the ICC pre-trial chamber licensed in January 2023.

APRIL 4, 2023

Prosecutor Khan asks the appeals chamber to reject the Philippine authorities’s attraction. In his response, Khan says the federal government didn’t show any error within the courtroom’s choice to renew the probe.

APRIL 11, 2023

The Philippine authorities asks the appeals chamber for a go away to file a quick reply to Khan’s response.

APRIL 14, 2023

Prosecutor Khan says the factors that the Philippine authorities desires to answer are “not new” and that it “may moderately have anticipated them.”

APRIL 18, 2023

The ICC Workplace of Public Counsel for Victims rejects the bid of the Philippine authorities to cease the investigation into Duterte’s conflict on medication, saying that the Philippines didn’t show that the pre-trial chamber dedicated any error in making the choice or set up a regulation error that “materially affected the choice.”

In a doc submitted earlier than the appeals chamber, principal counsel Paolina Massidda stated that halting the investigation will jeopardize the victims’ rights to “fact, justice, and reparations.”

“Relying on their decision, victims could also be denied the chance to uncover the reality, current their views and issues all through the proceedings, be certain that these accountable are held accountable, and in the end declare reparation,” she stated.

MAY 2, 2023

The ICC appeals chamber permits the Philippine authorities to answer the factors raised by Prosecutor Khan on the attraction filed in opposition to the resumption of the investigation. 

The chamber offers the Philippine authorities till Might 16 to submit its response. 

MAY 16, 2023

The Philippine authorities replies to Khan’s factors in opposition to the attraction. In its submitting, the federal government once more claims that the ICC has no jurisdiction over the killings carried out underneath Duterte’s violent conflict on medication.

MAY 22, 2023

The ICC Registry’s Victims Participation and Reparations Part (VPRS) releases its report based mostly on representations and views submitted by victims and their households. The VPRS receives “5 sufferer representations containing views and issues expressed on behalf of 350 particular person victims and 165 households.”

Based on its report, the victims “unanimously and strongly urge” the ICC to permit the resumption of Khan’s investigation into the violent conflict on medication, citing continued challenges and inaction on the a part of the Marcos administration.

JULY 12, 2023

The ICC pronounces that its Appeals Chamber will ship on July 18, 2023 its choice on the attraction lodged by the Philippine authorities in opposition to the resumption of investigation into killings underneath Duterte’s conflict on medication and his alleged demise squad in Davao Metropolis.

The chamber will decide whether or not or not ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan can transfer ahead along with his workplace’s probe.

JULY 18, 2023

The ICC appeals chamber rejects the Philippine authorities’s attraction. Because of this ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan’s investigation will proceed his workplace’s investigation into drug war-related killings within the Philippines and the alleged demise squad in Davao Metropolis underneath the management of Duterte.

Decide Marc Perrin de Brichambaut stated the chamber determined by a majority.

NOVEMBER 24, 2023 

Marcos says his administration is learning the attainable return of the Philippines as a member-state of the Worldwide Prison Court docket.

“There’s additionally a query, ought to we return underneath the fold of the ICC? In order that’s once more underneath research. So we’ll simply preserve taking a look at it and see what our choices are,” he tells reporters, including that “there are nonetheless issues by way of jurisdiction and sovereignty.” 

JANUARY 23, 2024

President Marcos insisted that the Philippines will not be cooperating with the ICC.

Days earlier than that assertion, former senator Antonio Trillanes IV claimed that ICC investigators entered the Philippines in December and already obtained proof in opposition to former president Duterte. Senator Dela Rosa additionally urged the President to be clear concerning the “actual rating” of the Philippines’ participation within the probe. 

“The Philippine authorities is not going to elevate a finger to assist any investigation that the ICC conducts. Nonetheless, as odd folks, they will come and go to the Philippines, however we is not going to assist them. Actually, we’re monitoring them, ensuring they don’t come into contact with any company of the federal government. And if they’re contacting companies of the federal government – police drive or native authorities models, we advise them to not reply,” Marcos stated.

FEBRUARY 9, 2024 

Remulla “firmly asserts” that the ICC has no jurisdiction over the Philippines, and that the “nation, as a sovereign entity, possesses the inherent proper to find out our personal authorized framework and tackle inside issues with none interference from exterior our bodies.” 

“I wish to emphasize that any presence of worldwide our bodies throughout the Philippines should adhere to our Structure and related legal guidelines,” he says, referring to unconfirmed studies that the ICC already went to the Philippines. 

FEBRUARY 20, 2024 

Marcos says that the ICC probe “opens a Pandora’s field.” He insists that there are nonetheless questions on “jurisdiction and sovereignty,” and that he has not “seen a enough reply for it.” 

“Till then, I don’t acknowledge their jurisdiction within the Philippines,” Marcos says. “I can’t, that appears to be the one logical conclusion that would come from that scenario.”

He says, nevertheless, that he can’t cease the ICC if it tries to enter the nation. 

“I don’t approve or deny it however you understand, they haven’t executed something unlawful,” he says. “As soon as they do, in fact, we are going to do one thing about it. However we’re an open nation, we aren’t a closed nation” 

AUGUST 1, 2024

Remulla says his company is not going to block the Worldwide Police (Interpol) from arresting alleged ICC suspects within the nation, highlighting that they’re “not within the enterprise of blocking any motion… except a coverage is laid out, which in fact will go in opposition to our worldwide commitments, that’s why we’re not gonna do it.”

“That’s the future challenge at hand now. In the event that they challenge a warrant of arrest, it’s the Interpol’s job to serve it. And we have now an obligation to the Interpol,” he says.

JANUARY 24, 2025

Government Secretary Lucas Bersamin says the Philippines will reply favorably if the Interpol is requested by the Worldwide Prison Court docket (ICC) to hold out an arrest warrant in relation to the drug conflict of former president Rodrigo Duterte.  

“If the ICC makes a transfer, and course the transfer by means of the Interpol, and the Interpol makes the request to us for the arrest of supply of the custody of an individual topic to ICC jurisdiction, we are going to reply favorably or positively to the Interpol request,” he says.

February 10, 2025

The ICC Workplace of the Prosecutor applies for an arrest warrant in opposition to Rodrigo Duterte.

March 7, 2025

The Worldwide Prison Court docket’s pre-trial chamber points an arrest warrant in opposition to Duterte.

March 9, 2025

Malacañang reiterates its stand about fulfilling its obligation to the Interpol following studies that an arrest warrant has been issued in opposition to Duterte.

Presidential Communications Workplace Secretary Jay Ruiz says they’d heard that an arrest warrant has been issued and that the federal government is “ready for any eventuality.” PCO Undersecretary Claire Castro additionally says that “if the Interpol will ask the required help from the federal government, it’s obliged to observe.”

March 11, 2025

Duterte is arrested on the Ninoy Aquino Worldwide Airport Terminal 3, turning into the primary former Philippine head of state to be arrested by means of an order by a world tribunal.

He’s flown outdoors the nation and to The Netherlands – the seat of the ICC – earlier than midnight.

March 12, 2025

Duterte arrives within the Netherlands and is transferred to the ICC Detention Middle in The Hague.

March 14, 2025

Duterte makes his first look by way of video hyperlink earlier than the ICC. The pre-trial chamber confirms that the listening to for the affirmation of expenses might be held in September 2025.

Might 1, 2025

The Duterte camp recordsdata a petition in search of the excusal of Judges Reine Adélaïde Sophie Alapini Gansou and María del Socorro Flores Liera “given the potential of perceived bias” which might come up “out of the Judges’ prior ruling on considerably the identical challenge within the State of affairs within the Republic of the Philippines.”

Might 2, 2025

Duterte formally asks the ICC to utterly junk its case in opposition to him. In a submission, Duterte’s attorneys argue that “there isn’t a authorized foundation for the continuation of the proceedings” and the courtroom ought to “order his rapid and unconditional launch.”

Might 14, 2025

ICC President Decide Tomoko Akana asks the courtroom’s judges to answer the Duterte camp’s request for excusal.

June 9, 2025

The ICC plenary unanimously rejects Duterte’s request for judges to recuse from the case.

June 12, 2025

Duterte seeks momentary launch from ICC detention. His camp says {that a} nation has agreed to just accept the previous president ought to his request be granted.

June 24, 2025

The ICC Prosecution “strongly opposes” Duterte’s request for momentary launch to his chosen nation.

“The continued detention of Mr. Duterte stays mandatory as a result of the constituent circumstances set out…are met. The Prosecution, subsequently, strongly opposes Mr. Duterte’s interim launch to [unnamed country],” a submitting by the prosecution signed by deputy prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang acknowledged.

June 26, 2025

The Division of Justice confirms that the Marcos administration is offering safety and assist to the witnesses in Duterte’s ICC case, particularly those that requested for the company’s help. 

July 1, 2025

The ICC Prosecution discloses proof, together with witnesses, to Duterte’s protection crew as a part of the courtroom process.

August 7, 2025

Duterte’s counsel recordsdata a request to disqualify ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan, citing alleged battle of curiosity over his previous illustration of drug conflict victims.

August 18, 2025

Duterte’s protection crew reiterates its request for his interim launch earlier than the ICC.

September 8, 2025

The ICC pre-trial chamber, voting 2-1 with Decide María del Socorro Flores Liera dissenting, indefinitely postpones Duterte’s affirmation of expenses listening to after his lawyer argued he was unfit to face trial.

September 22, 2025

The ICC Workplace of the Prosecutor expenses Duterte with three counts of homicide as crimes in opposition to humanity.

A 15-page submitting signed by Deputy Prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Nian states that Duterte is criminally answerable for the homicide of 19 victims in Davao Metropolis from 2013 to 2016 when he’s mayor, the homicide of 14 “high-value targets” throughout his presidency from 2016 to 2017, and the homicide and tried homicide of 45 victims throughout barangay clearing operations throughout the Philippines from 2016 to 2018.

September 26, 2025

The ICC pre-trial chamber rejects Duterte’s request for interim launch. In its choice, the chamber “orders the continued detention” of the previous president, including that “if interim launch have been to be granted, there’s a threat that Mr. Duterte would pose a menace to [potential] witnesses, both immediately or not directly by means of his supporters.”

The general public redacted model of the choice was launched on October 10.

November 27, 2025

The courtroom’s appeals chamber denies Duterte’s attraction for interim launch.

December 5, 2025

The medical panel releases its report, however not made out there to the general public.

December 18, 2025

The prosecution crew contains in its filings the outcomes of the medical panel’s examination of Duterte.

“Upon completion of their assessments, panel members individually reached the identical general conclusion that, whereas frail and aged, Mr. Duterte however possesses the required capacities to meaningfully train his procedural and truthful trial rights,” the crew says.

January 26, 2026

The ICC pre-trial chamber finds Duterte “match to participate within the pre-trial proceedings,” based on a press launch by the courtroom. It additionally schedules the beginning of the affirmation of expenses listening to on February 23, 2026.

 – with studies from Reuters/Rappler.com