Duterte attends ICC hearing in person for first time; evidence disclosure takes center stage

Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte appeared in person for the first time at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for his trial on crimes against humanity related to his drug war. This marks his second appearance overall, following his online attendance during the initial hearing on March 14, 2025. Presiding Judge Joanna Korner noted Duterte's attendance during the hearing on September 16. ICC spokesperson Oriane Maillet also confirmed this to Rappler. Duterte has been detained in The Hague since 2025, becoming the first former Philippine head of state to be arrested through an order by an international tribunal. Unlike in the first two status conferences, Duterte did not waive his appearance this time. "To date, no waiver request has been made by the Defence publicly. The Chamber noted in the previous Status Conference that the accused would be expected to attend the Status Conference in September," Maillet told Rappler. "And for that, certainly, Mr. [Peter] Haynes, we would expect Mr. Duterte to be here unless there’s some medical issue," Korner said on June 23. Massive evidence vs Duterte During the hearing, Korner asked the prosecution if the number of witnesses could be lessened. She noted, for example, that there are four expert witnesses listed for the same topic. Prosecution trial lawyer Edward Jeremy said they would need 193 hours to present their witnesses and explained that this is already the reduced version. "We will look at every opportunity to streamline [the] case," said Jeremy. In total, the prosecution has 15,559 pieces of evidence. The prosecution’s senior trial lawyer Julian Nicholls said part of the evidence comes from a very large data set. Nicholls added that so far, they were also having trouble settling agreed facts or stipulations. The parties — prosecution and defense — may agree to certain facts for a more streamlined and efficient trial. Duterte’s lawyer, Peter Haynes, complained about the massive evidence and said it’s nearly 20,000. He said the disclosure of evidence has been "awful," adding that they only learned about the large disclosure six weeks before the end of disclosure. Disclosure of evidence is done in the proceedings to allow the legal counsel of the accused to prepare a proper defense. "[That’s] part of fair trial guarantees for the accused," ICC assistant to counsel Ross Tugade told Rappler. Haynes said they considered acquiring an artificial intelligence tool to sift through the evidence, but it would cost nearly half a million euros. He added that using keywords is applicable only to large data sets. To settle the issue on disclosure, Korner gave the prosecution and the defense seven days each to file their respective positions. Korner added that she hopes the parties will "find some common ground" on how to handle the massive exhibits. – Rappler.com