The previous president will face trial after the court docket confirmed expenses of crimes in opposition to humanity over his ‘conflict on medicine’.
Revealed On 23 Apr 2026
Judges on the Worldwide Felony Court docket (ICC) have confirmed all three counts of homicide as crimes in opposition to humanity in opposition to former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and dedicated him to trial.
The judges on Thursday stated there have been “substantial grounds” to consider Duterte, 81, performed a key function within the murders of 76 individuals and the tried homicide of two others as a part of his so-called “conflict on medicine”, which prosecutors say killed hundreds of civilians within the Philippines.
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“The accessible evidentiary materials exhibits the existence of a standard plan between Mr Duterte and his co-perpetrators to kill alleged criminals within the Philippines, together with these perceived or alleged to be related to drug use, sale or manufacturing, via violent crimes together with homicide,” the court docket stated.
Prosecutors have stated Duterte created, funded and armed dying squads to kill suspected narcotics sellers and customers when he was in energy between 2016 and 2022.
Duterte was arrested within the Philippines final yr, however denies the fees in opposition to him, insisting he instructed the police to kill solely in self-defence.
His lead defence lawyer, Nick Kaufman, stated the prosecution “cherry-picked” examples of his shopper’s “bombastic rhetoric” and that he by no means supposed to incite violence.
It’s unclear whether or not Duterte will attend his trial. His defence group says he’s mentally too weak to comply with the proceedings.
In earlier circumstances, it has taken the ICC as much as a yr between the affirmation of expenses and the beginning of a trial.
Estimates of the dying toll throughout Duterte’s presidential time period range from 6,000, reported by police, to 30,000, reported by some human rights teams.
Director of Amnesty Worldwide Philippines, Ritz Lee Santos, hailed the ICC ruling as a “historic second for victims and worldwide justice”.
“It sends a transparent message that those that are alleged to have dedicated widespread and systematic homicide as against the law in opposition to humanity will at some point discover themselves within the dock, dealing with trial.”
Maria Elena Vignoli, senior worldwide justice counsel at Human Rights Watch, stated Duterte’s trial will “ship a strong message that nobody answerable for grave crimes is above the regulation, whether or not within the Philippines or elsewhere, and that justice will finally meet up with them”.
