The pending case of former president Rodrigo Duterte before the International Criminal Court (ICC) will not be significantly affected despite the disqualification of Prosecutor Karim Khan, who initiated and led the years-long probe into the ex-leader’s notorious bloody war on drugs.

This is primarily because Khan had already “recused himself from several activities of the Office of the Prosecutor” as early as April and allowed Deputy Prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang to take over Duterte’s case before going on leave due to allegations of sexual misconduct, said ICC assistant to counsel Kristina Conti.

“He has turned over the prosecution of the case to Mandiaye Niang… So he has taken steps to ensure that there will be no contamination or tainting of evidence, if that would be the argument,” said Conti, also one of the lawyers representing the families of drug war victims, in an interview on Wednesday.

The decision will also not “directly impact the timeline” of the former president’s pre-trial, which has faced further delays due to the defense’s petition seeking to indefinitely postpone the proceedings, citing the advanced age of the 80-year-old Duterte.

Conti’s remarks came on the heels of the ICC Appeals Chamber’s decision disqualifying Khan from taking part in the prosecution of the former president, based on a decision seen by Reuters. The copy has yet to be made public.

The ruling favors Duterte’s camp, which accused Khan of a “conflict of interest.”

Duterte’s lawyer, Nicholas Kaufman, alleged that Khan, who was then a private lawyer, had handled a case of drug-related killings in the Philippines similar to those raised against Duterte, thereby compromising the fairness of the proceedings.

The defense argued that this violated Article 42(7) of the Rome Statute, the ICC's founding treaty, which prohibits a prosecutor from participating in a case where their impartiality might reasonably be doubted.

Khan, in response, petitioned the ICC to reject the plea, asserting there were “no grounds” for his disqualification.

Moreover, the prosecutor claimed that he was not directly involved in the previous probe, since the submissions were reviewed by a team of lawyers headed by a deputy prosecutor, not Khan himself.

Conti, on the other hand, is certain that Khan’s disqualification has “minimal impact on the prosecution of the case,” since Mandiaye Niang was already in charge as early as May, ensuring that proceedings continue.

“Everything would be based on evidence. The evidence doesn’t depend on Karim Khan,” she pointed out.

In 2021, Khan succeeded then–chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, who led the charge in launching the preliminary probe into the drug war killings in the Philippines as early as February 2018—merely two years into Duterte’s presidency.

The investigation, however, met strong objections from the Philippines and was deferred after two months at Duterte’s request.

In January 2023, it was ordered to be resumed notwithstanding the Philippines’ appeal. Since then, it was Khan who spearheaded the drug war probe until Duterte was arrested in Manila on 11 March.

Duterte is facing three counts of murder for crimes against humanity related to his brutal war on drugs, which saw more than 6,000 deaths based on government data, though rights watchdogs estimate the death toll exceeded 30,000—most of them from low-income communities.