The International Criminal Court (ICC) Pre-Trial Chamber 1 has rejected the appeal filed by the defense team of former President Rodrigo Duterte against the confirmation of charges against him.

Citing two issues, Duterte's defense team sought to appeal the confirmation decision on the humanity charges against the former president.

The ICC has confirmed all charges against Duterte, paving the way for a full trial over alleged crimes against humanity linked to his administration’s anti-drug campaign.

Duterte's defense team raised two issues in its appeal. First, whether the Pre-Trial Chamber erred by adopting a "flexible approach" and overbroadly delineating the scope of the charges; and second, whether the Pre-Trial Chamber erred in law by failing to articulate a reasoned evidentiary basis for confirming the charges.

In a 12-page document dated May 21, the ICC rejected Duterte's appeal, stressing that "an appealable issue is an identifiable subject or topic requiring a decision for its resolution, not merely a question over which there is disagreement or conflicting opinion."

The Chamber further argued that "it must emanate from the relevant decision itself and cannot represent a hypothetical concern or abstract legal question."

On the defense team's claim that the Chamber erred by adopting a "flexible approach," the Chamber argued that "the the Defence unable to determine whether and which incidents fall within the facts and circumstances of the charges."

"The Defence further asserts that the Chamber’s approach rests ‘on considerations extraneous to the requirement that the charges be defined with sufficient precision, namely 'limitations inherent in its statutory role' and a ‘prosecutorial prerogative to expand and vary the evidentiary basis post-confirmation’, which are respectively ‘incompatible with the function of the confirmation procedure’ and not founded based on the Court’s framework and practice," the Chamber said.

The Chamber also stressed that contrary to the Defense's assertion, it has "Clearly set out" the basis for the delineation of the charges.

It added that "the Chamber defined a clear temporal, geographical and material scope for each of the three confirmed Counts."

"Similarly, the Chamber considers that the Defence’s argument that the Chamber’s ‘flexible approach’ rests on considerations extraneous to the requirement that the charges be defined  with sufficient precision confirms the Defence’s misunderstanding of the distinction between the question of the proper delineation of the scope of the charge and the accused’s right to prompt and sufficient notice of the charges, since such considerations were mentioned in the context of the discussion on the details within the charges and not in relation to the definition of the scope of the charges per se," the Chamber said.

The Chamber further said that the first issue presented by the Defense team "mischaracterises the Confirmation Decision as to the matter of the proper delineation of the charges."

The Chamber also said that the Defense's submission regarding the second issue "mischaracterise the Confirmation Decision and amounts to a mere disagreement with the manner in which the Chamber articulated its assessment of the evidence."

"As such, the Second Proposed Issue does not amount to an appealable issue within the meaning of article 82(1)(d) of the Statute. Accordingly, it is not necessary for the Chamber to address the remainder of the cumulative criteria of article 82(1)(d) of the Statute," the Chamber added.

The ICC Prosecution is aiming to begin Duterte's trial on November 30, 2026.