Duterte Makes First In-Person Appearance at The Hague as ICC Presses Toward November Trial

Rodrigo Duterte, the former president of the Philippines, appeared in person before the International Criminal Court on Wednesday for the first time since his arrest 18 months ago, sitting through a status conference that turned as much on his mental fitness to stand trial as on the crimes-against-humanity charges he faces over his years-long campaign against drug suspects. The 81-year-old, dressed in a black suit, smiled and waved to supporters in the public gallery before Trial Chamber III took up a dispute over his health, the scope of the prosecution's evidence and a renewed defense request for his release.

It was Duterte's third status conference and his first attended in person; he had missed or joined by video link the two previous sessions, in May and June. His lawyers argue he is no longer capable of meaningfully participating in his own defense. Presiding Judge Joanna Korner said medical reports on the former president mean the court will have to shorten its sitting hours once the trial opens, though a panel of court-appointed specialists in forensic psychiatry, geriatric and behavioral neurology, and neuropsychology concluded he "retains all the capacities necessary to participate meaningfully in the trial." Defense counsel Peter Haynes told the chamber that assessment was incomplete and unsupported by the evidence collected.

The numbers behind the case

Duterte faces three counts of crimes against humanity — murder and attempted murder — covering killings between November 1, 2011, when he was mayor of Davao City, and March 16, 2019, near the end of his presidency. Prosecutors built the charges around dozens of representative killings rather than the full toll of his anti-drug campaign, which ran from 2016 until he left office in 2022. Philippine police have recorded more than 6,000 deaths in official drug operations; the U.N. human rights office estimated in 2020 that at least 8,663 people were killed once "deaths under inquiry" were added to confirmed police killings, a figure it called conservative. Domestic human rights groups and the government's own Commission on Human Rights have said the real total could run two to three times higher. Legal representatives for 539 victims are participating in the proceedings.

At Wednesday's conference, Judge Korner also pushed back on the scale of the case itself. Prosecutors had requested 193 hours for witness testimony, a figure she called excessive once cross-examination time is added, noting the list included four experts covering the same subject. The defense, meanwhile, called the roughly 20,000 items on the prosecution's evidence list "unworkable," with Haynes noting that 80 percent of it arrived only three weeks before an August 31 deadline. Korner ordered prosecutors to identify which evidence is "non-negotiable" and warned against what she called "wholesale dumping" of repetitive material.

How the case reached The Hague

The U.S. State Department's human rights reporting on the Philippines has documented years of extrajudicial killings tied to the anti-drug campaign Duterte launched as president in mid-2016, continuing practices security forces had used against drug suspects during his two decades as Davao's mayor. The ICC's Office of the Prosecutor opened a preliminary examination in 2018. The Philippines withdrew from the Rome Statute in March 2019, but the court retained jurisdiction over crimes alleged to have occurred while the country was still a member, and formally authorized an investigation in 2021. Duterte was arrested in Manila on March 12, 2025, days after an ICC warrant was issued, and was transferred to court custody in the Netherlands the same month. Judges confirmed the three charges in April 2026 following the four-day confirmation hearing in February, sending the case to trial. The European Union has described his transfer to the court as a reaffirmation of the ICC's relevance at a moment when the institution faces sustained political pressure, including U.S. sanctions on several of its officials.

Who is affected, and what people are saying

The case has reopened a divide in Philippine politics that runs through Duterte's own family. His daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, is separately facing an impeachment trial in Manila over allegations involving misuse of public funds, a proceeding entangled with her political rupture from President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. In Manila on Thursday, families of drug war victims gathered for watch parties, some chanting "Justice for all victims of the killings," according to local coverage of the hearing. Outside the ICC in The Hague, small groups gathered both in support of the proceedings and of Duterte.

The government in Manila, which no longer controls the case but must manage its domestic fallout, sought to project calm. Palace press officer Claire Castro told reporters Thursday that Duterte "appeared to be in good condition" during the hearing and seemed to have accepted that proceedings would continue, a notably different account from the "significant memory impairment" his own lawyers have described.

"It really is important, even more important than normal, that we conclude the case as quickly as possible," Judge Korner told the parties, citing Duterte's age and health.

Hours after the hearing, the same chamber rejected a renewed defense request for Duterte's release, finding "no notable change" in the circumstances that led to his original detention. Judges cited an increased flight risk now that trial — and the prospect of a lengthy sentence if convicted — is imminent, as well as concern that disclosure of witness identities and expected testimony ahead of trial had increased his "ability to interfere with witnesses, either directly or through his family or supporters in the Philippines."

What happens next

Duterte's defense team has until September 23 to file motions on disclosure procedures and case management, part of the court's effort to narrow the evidence and witness list before trial. His fitness to stand trial has not been finally resolved; the medical panel's conclusions were treated Wednesday as provisional rather than dispositive, and further assessment is expected. Barring further delay, the trial is scheduled to open November 30, 2026, at the ICC's seat in The Hague — a proceeding that would make Duterte the first former Southeast Asian head of state to be tried by the court and one of the most prominent defendants in its history.