ICC forms Duterte case trial panel

The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Tuesday officially formed the panel of judges who will constitute Trial Chamber III, set to hear the case of former President Rodrigo Duterte in the trial phase.

The ICC presidency appointed Judges Joanna Korner, Keebong Paek and Nicolas Guillou to comprise the chamber just days after it received the confirmed charges against Duterte, handed down by Pre‑Trial Chamber I on 23 April.

Korner, from the United Kingdom, has been an ICC judge since March 2021, with a nine‑year term. She has practiced criminal law for 45 years as a judge and barrister. Before joining the ICC, Korner served as a judge of the Crown Court of England and Wales since 2012, trying the most serious and complex criminal cases, including fraud and murder.

Korner also served as a senior prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia from 1999 to 2004 and from 2009 to 2012.

Paek also has extensive legal experience, starting as a public prosecutor in 1992 before he transitioned to private practice and became a senior attorney at Kim & Chang — one of Asia’s largest law firms — in 2014.

He specialized in investigations, prosecuting criminal cases and overseeing trials related to a wide range of crimes, including white‑collar crime, extradition, mutual legal assistance and cross‑border asset recovery.

He also held senior roles at the Ministry of Justice, working on ICC‑related matters, including drafting the implementation bill for Korea’s ratification of the Rome Statute. He also served at the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, supporting countries in implementing anti‑organized‑crime frameworks.

Meanwhile, Guillou spent four years as a Pre‑Trial Judge at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers before he was elected as an ICC judge in December 2023.

He is a French judge who served as Chef de Cabinet to the President of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon from 2015 to 2019 and as Liaison Prosecutor at the US Department of Justice from 2012 to 2015, where he facilitated judicial cooperation in criminal and civil matters.

He also held several senior positions at the French Ministry of Justice after starting his career as an investigative judge. Guillou teaches and holds training programs for judges on international justice at the French National School for the Judiciary, where he graduated.

Shortly after it was constituted, the Trial Chamber is expected to hold status conferences and confer with the parties and participants to set the date of the commencement of Duterte’s trial.

It is also expected to rule on several preliminary issues, including the timing and manner of disclosure of evidence, although there is no definite timeline yet based on Tuesday’s ruling.

Duterte was effectively committed to trial after the PTC I judges ruled last week that there are substantial grounds to believe that he is criminally responsible for the crimes related to his notorious bloody war on drugs.

Unlike the PTC I, Trial Chamber III will determine whether he is guilty of the alleged extrajudicial killings tied to his bloody drug war.

ICC prosecutors charged Duterte with murder and attempted murder for the killings of 78 individuals, including six children, allegedly suspected of drug dealing from 2013 to 2018, spanning his tenure as Davao mayor and as president.

It also covered the killings by the so‑called Davao Death Squad, which was founded and headed by Duterte, as alleged by prosecutors.

Duterte, 81, has been detained in ICC custody since 11 March last year over his role as an “indirect co‑perpetrator” in the said killings.