No interim release for Duterte

Former president Rodrigo Duterte will remain in detention in the Netherlands after appeals judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday rejected his appeal on his request for interim release.

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Former President Rodrigo Duterte is seen on a screen with his lawyer Salvador Medialdea (L) in the courtroom during his first appearance before the International Criminal Court (ICC) on charge of crimes against humanity over his deadly crackdown on narcotics, in The Hague on March 14, 2025. The ICC denied the former president's appeal for interim release. FILE PHOTO

The ICC Appeals Chamber issued in open court its unanimous decision denying the appeal lodged by Duterte's lawyers against the earlier decision of pretrial judges that denied his request for conditional release to another country.

The decision was read by Judge Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza, who was appointed presiding judge for the Duterte's appeal on interim release.

"The Appeals Chamber notes that the Pre-Trial Chamber reached its conclusions in relation to the risks... on the basis of a comprehensive assessment of the information before it," Carranza said.

"In the present case, having rejected the three grounds of appeal presented by the defense in the appeal brief, the Appeals Chamber unanimously confirms the impugned decision," she added, referring to the Sept. 26 decision of the Pre-Trial Chamber I that rejected Duterte's interim release request.

Duterte's defense team raised three grounds in its appeal: that the pretrial judges erroneously found that the former president poses a risk, that it erred in its rejection of the guarantees proposed by the State willing to receive him, and that it failed to take into account humanitarian considerations in assessing the right to interim release.

But the five-member Appeals Chamber, which is composed of a different set of judges, said the defense failed to identify errors in the assailed decision.