The prosecution and counsels for victims in the case of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte asked the International Criminal Court on Sept. 10 to dismiss the request of the defense lawyer to order them to refile the charges saying it is “unfounded.”
“The Prosecution respectfully rejects this assertion, and opposes this request, which is unfounded,” acting Prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang said adding that “The legal adequacy of the charges has been settled in the confirmation proceedings” in April.
In a separate submission on the same day, common legal representatives for victims Paolina Massidda, Joel Butuyan and Gilbert Andres said in the confirmation decision, the Court had established “a clear temporal, geographical and material scope for each of the three confirmed Counts, identifying the relevant periods, geographical areas, direct perpetrators and categories of victims. “
They asked that defense counsel’s motion “should be therefore dismissed in limine” (at the beginning) or in the alternative, be rejected on the merits.
On Aug. 31, Peter Haynes, Duterte’s lead counsel, asked the trial court to order the prosecution to refile the charges against his client arguing that the way the charges are currently framed violates Duterte’s “right to be informed in detail of the nature, cause and content of the charges.”
Haynes became Duterte’s lawyer on May 15 after he replaced Nicholas Kaufman.
Duterte is accused of crimes against humanity of murder and attempted murder, allegedly committed in the Philippines between 1 November 2011 and 16 March 2019 related to his war on drugs.
He was arrested on March 12, 2025 in the Philippines on the strength of a warrant of arrest issued by the ICC which is based in The Hague, Netherlands. He is currently detained at the Scheveningen Prison in The Hague.
The Court has authorized 539 victims to participate in the trial which is scheduled to start on Nov. 30.
Thumbnail photo produced with the aid of Google Gemini.
