Duterte Expected at ICC Pretrial Hearing in The Hague

Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is expected to appear before the International Criminal Court in The Hague on Wednesday, in what would be his first public appearance in more than a year.

The 81-year-old faces charges of crimes against humanity over his alleged role in a wave of killings carried out during his so-called war on drugs, first as mayor of a southern Philippine city and later as president. He has denied the charges.

Duterte has been absent from a series of hearings since his arrest last year, with medical reasons cited. Judges ruled in January that he was healthy enough to stand trial, and the presiding judge said during a June pretrial hearing that the court expected him to attend unless a medical issue arose.

His lead counsel told the judges at that hearing that Duterte was fully aware the court would expect to see him sooner rather than later.

Wednesday's hearing is to address evidence disclosure and set a timetable for the trial, which is scheduled to open in November.

Duterte was arrested in March 2025 and was due in court in The Hague the following September. That appearance was put off after a pretrial panel granted a limited postponement so the court could assess whether he was fit to take part. A panel of medical experts later assessed him, and judges concluded he was fit for pretrial proceedings.

The ICC has been examining mass killings in crackdowns overseen by Duterte since 2018. Estimates of the death toll during his presidential term range from the more than 6,000 reported by national police to as many as 30,000 cited by human rights groups. Prosecutors allege that police and government hit squads carried out dozens of killings on Duterte's orders, motivated by the promise of money or by fear of becoming targets themselves.

A month after the court announced a preliminary investigation into the drug crackdowns in February 2018, Duterte said the Philippines would withdraw from the ICC. Judges last year rejected a bid by his legal team to have the case thrown out on the basis of that withdrawal, holding that countries cannot abuse their right to leave the court's founding Rome Statute to shield people from justice over alleged crimes already under consideration.

Separately, an attempt earlier this year to arrest another man wanted by the ICC over the drug killings ended in gunfire at the Philippine Senate in May. No one was hurt. The court had unsealed an arrest warrant for Ronald Marapon dela Rosa, a former national police chief under Duterte, who went into hiding after the standoff and remains at large.

Two months later, the Philippine Senate, sitting as an impeachment court, opened the trial of Duterte's daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte. If convicted on charges that include amassing unexplained wealth and publicly threatening the family of current President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., she could be permanently barred from public office. She denies the charges.