Former President Rodrigo Duterte requested again that the International Criminal Court (ICC) allow him to waive his appearance on 22 April, when the judges will hand down a decision on whether his crimes against humanity case will proceed to a full trial or be dismissed. 

In a three-page filing dated 13 April, Duterte informed the Appeals Chamber that he would skip the much-anticipated hearing, without giving any reasons.

The ICC Pre-Trial Chamber will hand down the ruling in open court on 22 April at 11 a.m. local time in The Hague, which is 5 p.m. in the Philippines. 

“I hereby instruct my lawyers to hear the aforementioned judgment in my place,” a portion of his letter dated 10 April reads. 

This marks the third time that Duterte asked permission from the ICC to skip relevant hearings of his case in light of claims by his lawyers of his unexplained weight loss and debilitating cognitive impairment. 

In February, Duterte also waived his attendance at the four-day hearing of the confirmation of his murder charges related to his notorious bloody drug war, arguing that the ICC has no jurisdiction over him.

He first did this in late November last year, when the Appeals Chamber rendered a unanimous decision dismissing his petition seeking his temporary release. 

Duterte, 81, has been detained in ICC’s custody since his arrest on 11 March in Manila. He is facing three counts of murder for his role as “indirect co-perpetrator” over the alleged extrajudicial killings committed during the brutal campaign against illegal drugs, spanning his time as Davao City mayor and as president. 

6-K deaths claimed

The deadly anti-narcotics operations killed over 6,000 deaths based on government data, though human rights groups estimated the actual death toll exceeded 30,000, mostly from poor communities.

If the ICC confirms only one of the three charges brought against him by the prosecutors, Duterte will remain in ICC detention for another round of trial. 

ICC records showed that Duterte and his co-perpetrators executed a “common plan” to curb illegal drugs and crimes, which allegedly involved systematic killings, torture and other crimes.

The operations were implemented during Duterte’s tenure as Davao City mayor and later expanded nationwide after he won the presidency in 2016.

ICC prosecutors said the alleged killings were first carried out by the Davao Death Squad — a notorious group formerly comprised of Davao-based police and hired gunmen responsible for the killings in the city — with Duterte as the “top head.”

The prosecution team has long posited that the case against Duterte is rock solid to proceed to a full-blown trial. However, Duterte’s lawyer, Nicholas Kaufman, insisted that the evidence is weak, not credible, and failed to establish the ex-leader’s direct link to the alleged killings.