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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider ICC unanimously junks Duterte's bid to disqualify judges

ICC unanimously junks Duterte's bid to disqualify judges

Published Jun 11, 2025 08:26 am  |  Updated Jun 11, 2025 02:03 pm
The Duterte camp failed to disqualify two of the judges of the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) Pre-Trial Chamber I (PTC I) to adjudicate on the jurisdiction challenge filed by former president Rodrigo Duterte’s defense lawyers.

Former president Rodrigo Duterte at his initial appearance hearing via video link on March 14, 2025, at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands. Also in the photo is former executive secretary Salvador Medialdea. (ICC Photo)

In a three-page document dated June 9 and uploaded on the ICC website, the ICC said that its plenary of judges was convened to decide on the Duterte camp’s application to change the composition of the PTC I, which handles Duterte’s case, by disqualifying Judges Reine Adélaïde Sophie Alapini-Gansou and Judges María del Socorro Flores Liera.

“The plenary of judges, acting unanimously, decided to reject the Application. A fully reasoned decision of the plenary will follow,” the decision, signed by the plenary’s president, Judge Tomoko Akane, read.

On May 1, the former president’s defense team filed “Defense Challenge with Respect to Jurisdiction” to question the ICC’s jurisdiction on the crimes against humanity of murder charges filed against Duterte since the Philippines was no longer a party to the Rome Statute when the preliminary investigation into the brutal war on drugs started in 2021.

The Philippines, led by then-president Duterte, withdrew from the ICC in March 2019.

The defense team also wants to disqualify the two judges from deciding on the jurisdiction challenge, pointing out that they were members of the previous chamber that allowed the ICC prosecutor to initiate the investigation into Duterte’s brutal war on drugs in 2021.

In their response to the bid to disqualify them, Alapini-Gansou and Liera refuted Duterte’s claims, stressing in an internal memorandum that, “We see no grounds in the current case that would have required us to seek to be excused or that could lead to our disqualification.”

The Prosecution also sought to dismiss the disqualification bid.

The jurisdiction challenge is a key component of the case against the former president as it will rule on whether or not the ICC can proceed with the trial and continue Duterte’s detention in The Hague.

The former chief executive has been detained at the Scheveningen Prison in The Hague, Netherlands since March 12 after he was sent there on the basis of an ICC arrest warrant served to him by the Interpol and the Philippine National Police (PNP) on March 11.

He was last seen via a video teleconference on March 14 to officially hear the case against him, and is scheduled to appear before the PTC I on Sept. 23 for a confirmation of charges hearing.

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