Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is seen on a screen in the courtroom of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands, on March 14, 2025. Credit – Peter Dejong—AP
Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court have formally charged the Philippines’ former President Rodrigo Duterte with three counts of crimes against humanity for murder, court documents made public Monday show.
The prosecutors’ heavily redacted charge sheet filed July 4 alleges that the 80-year-old Duterte, who has been detained in The Hague, Netherlands, since his March arrest in Manila, is “individually criminally responsible” for the crimes committed during his deadly crackdown on illegal drugs when he was vice mayor and mayor of the southern Philippine city of Davao and through his single-term presidency in the Southeast Asian country.
During Duterte’s presidency from 2016 to 2022, more than 6,000 people were killed, according to the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, in anti-illegal-drug operations in the country. But human rights groups have estimated some 30,000 actual deaths.
Prosecutors said that from November 2011 to March 2019, Duterte and his co-perpetrators “shared a common plan or agreement to ‘neutralise’ alleged criminals in the Philippines (including those perceived or alleged to be associated with drug use, sale or production) through violent crimes including murder.”
The charge sheet also stated that Duterte had individual criminal responsibility over the killings for ordering and abetting the commission of the crimes, which involved members of the national police and “high-ranking” government officials. The document redacted the identities of many alleged co-perpetrators.
Duterte’s arrest in March was a turning point for families of victims of his so-called “war on drugs,” who have criticized the apparent lack of due process and how poor Filipinos were often the victims of its vigilante-style killings.
The former President’s legal team, however, is seeking to avoid Duterte facing the court—including arguing that the 80-year-old is no longer fit to stand trial. The ICC postponed a confirmation of charges hearing initially scheduled for Tuesday, with a new date yet to be determined.
Here’s what to know about the case.
What are the three counts?
Prosecutors set out three charges of murder, involving 76 deaths. But in the document, they prefaced that “the actual scale of victimisation during the charged period was significantly greater, as reflected in the widespread nature of the attack.”
The first count allegedly involves the Davao City police and non-police hitmen—collectively called DDS—in 19 killings across nine separate incidents from 2013 to 2016, when Duterte was the city mayor and the collective’s alleged head.
The second and third counts cover Duterte’s presidency. In the second count, prosecutors allege a “National Network” similar to the DDS—comprised of personnel from the national police, the drug law enforcement agency, the National Bureau of Investigation, non-police assets, and hitmen—was behind the murders of 14 “high-value” targets. These targets were allegedly involved in drug manufacturing and/or drug syndicates, and police who killed a target could receive rewards (outside of a sanctioned, formal reward system) that could reach up to one million Philippine pesos (more than $17,000).
The third count, meanwhile, charges Duterte with the murder of 43 people and attempted murder of two others, after the National Network conducted village-level drug clearance operations across the Philippines from 2016 to 2018.
How has Duterte’s legal team tried to upend court proceedings?
Before Duterte could face the charges, the ICC must determine if he is fit to stand trial.
In an August 18 filing, Duterte’s chief counsel Nicholas Kaufman sought the court to “adjourn all legal proceedings in his case indefinitely,” citing “cognitive impairment in multiple domains.” Kaufman argued that the cognitive deficiencies Duterte was experiencing “affect his memory, his daily executive functioning, his visuoconstructive abilities, and his orientation to place and time while, simultaneously, limiting his capacity for complex reasoning.” Kaufman’s request led the court’s Pre-Trial Chamber I to indefinitely postpone a confirmation of charges hearing scheduled for Sept. 23.
Duterte’s supposed health issues are just one of many ways his defense team has tried to stop or upend the proceedings in months.
The former President’s camp has repeatedly requested his interim release, saying that Duterte does not pose a flight risk, will not abscond, and is willing to cooperate with the ICC. The Philippines’ incumbent Vice President Sara Duterte, one of his daughters, said on Sept. 20 that an unidentified third country has expressed approval to host her father.
His defense team also tried to disqualify two of the Pre-Trial Chamber I court judges, Judge Reine Adélaïde Sophie Alapini-Gansou and Judge María del Socorro Flores Liera, for perceived bias. The court eventually rejected their request, saying “no actual nor reasonable apprehension of bias arises in respect of” the judges.
And Duterte’s camp has also tried to disqualify ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan, who has been on leave since May amid sexual misconduct allegations. Kaufman said that Khan “failed to disclose a grievous conflict of interest” after the ICC prosecutor previously represented the alleged victims of Duterte’s drug war as a private lawyer. Kaufman later retracted this disqualification request.
How have Filipinos reacted?
In a June 12 interim release request, Kaufman wrote: “Duterte is no longer the President of the Philippines, and does not command the same influence or power he is said to have abused during the period of the alleged crimes. He no longer holds the type of office that the Prosecution argues allowed him to order and to implement the policies that form the basis for the ICC arrest warrant.”
Duterte and his family are at odds with the incumbent Administration of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., severing political ties they had during the 2022 election season. The Duterte family, which has argued that their patriarch’s arrest and subsequent case is politically motivated, still enjoys significant popularity in the Philippines. And besides Vice President Sara Duterte, other Duterte family members also hold public office and aspire to further influence.
Pro-Duterte Filipinos protested in The Hague on Sept. 21—coinciding with widespread anti-corruption demonstrations in the Philippines—and called for Duterte’s release from prison and repatriation to the Philippines. They also demanded that Marcos resign.
Kristina Conti, one of the counsels of the victims, said in a press conference at The Hague on Monday that requests for Duterte’s interim release should be denied, since the Duterte family remains powerful in the Philippines and has access to a wealth of resources.
Conti also said that families of the victims, who obtained Schengen visas just to attend the proceeding, were frustrated with the postponement of the confirmation of charges hearing: “What those families feel—do you know the feeling when you’re about to throw up, but it gets stuck in your throat? It’s like that for them. Because relief was imminent, everyone could breathe, and then it gets preempted.”
But Conti said despite this, Duterte’s drug war victims were not discouraged. “They told me, ‘Ma’am, if we could wait 8 years, 9 years to see Duterte imprisoned, then we could wait until he stands trial.’”
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