Duterte's lawyers challenge ICC jurisdiction in bid to prevent trial

Former President Rodrigo Duterte’s lawyers have formally sought the dismissal of his case by arguing the International Criminal Court cannot exercise its jurisdiction after the Philippines’ withdrawal from the Rome Statute in 2019.

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In a 38-page filing submitted Thursday, May 1, Duterte’s lawyers Nicholas Kaufman and Dov Jacobs claimed the court overstepped its authority by approving the investigation into the so-called “war on drugs” in September 2021 when the Philippines was no longer a member state —a procedural challenge aimed at preventing Duterte’s case from going to trial.

The defense team’s challenge comes around four months before the ICC is set to hold the confirmation of charges hearing for Duterte, who was arrested by authorities on March 11 and subsequently transferred to ICC custody in The Hague the next day.

Duterte faces charges of crimes against humanity related to thousands of alleged extrajudicial killings during his administration’s controversial drug war.

At the core of Duterte’s argument to junk his case is, as expected, the timing: while the ICC maintains jurisdiction over crimes committed from 2011 to 2019, Duterte’s defense team argued that it cannot legally exercise that jurisdiction because the country had already withdrawn from the Rome Statute when prosecutors sought formal authorization to investigate in May 2021.

The Rome Statute is the founding treaty that established the ICC.