Duterte at ICC: Who are the trial judges?  

Metro Manila, Philippines – The International Criminal Court (ICC) has constituted Trial Chamber III to handle the case of former President Rodrigo Duterte as he stands for trial on charges of crimes against humanity over killings linked to his anti-drug campaign.

According to the ICC decision shared by the court on Tuesday, April 28, Duterte’s case will be tried by the three-member panel of judges Joanna Korner of the United Kingdom, Keebong Paek of South Korea, and Nicolas Guillou of France.

None of the three were part of the unanimous decision in the pre-trial chamber that previously confirmed all three counts of crimes against humanity against Duterte.

Here are details of what we know about these three judges.

Judge Joanna Korner, UK

The senior among all three is Korner at 74 years old. She has spent 45 years in criminal law.

Korner spent eight years as an International Criminal Tribunal senior prosecutor for the former Yugoslavia. Some cases she led included those against Bosnian Serb political and military leaders accused of ethnic cleansing and mass atrocities.  

Before she officially joined the international court in 2021, she was a judge of the Crown Court of England and Wales. According to her ICC profile, she tried “most serious and complex criminal cases including fraud and murder” during her service. 

With the ICC, Korner has recently been known as the trial chamber chairperson that sentenced Sudanese militia leader Ali Kushayb to 20 years in prison for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Sudan’s Darfur region. 

Judge Keebong Paek, South Korea

Paek began his law career as a public prosecutor for South Korea in 1992. 

He later on rose to become the country’s minister of justice and drafted the bill for South Korea’s ratification of the Rome Statute or the ICC’s founding treaty. Paek then proceeded to represent South Korea at ICC preparatory sessions.

According to his ICC profile, Paek also served under the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime which supported member states in implementing the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. 

His doctoral dissertation at Hanyang University focused specifically on the law of evidence in ICC proceedings. 

Paek was sworn in at the ICC in 2024 and is serving his first nine-year term. 

Judge Nicolas Guillou, France

Guillou is also serving his first nine-year term for the ICC after being sworn in in 2024. He began his law career as an investigating judge in France.

Guillou then worked as chef de cabinet to the President of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and as a liaison prosecutor at the United States Department of Justice. 

Later on, Guillou served four years as a pre-trial Judge at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers,  a special court in The Hague. During his serving, he issued the arrest warrant for Salih Mustafa, a Kosovo Liberation Army commander later convicted of war crimes.

What happens at the ICC chamber

Trial Chamber III will now receive the complete case record which includes evidence, transcripts, and the 50-page decision confirming the charges against Duterte.

It will then begin setting status conferences with the prosecution, defense, and victim representatives.

At the ICC, trials typically begin between six months and a year and a half after charges are confirmed. Once proceedings start, Duterte will be required to appear in court. 

More than 500 relatives of those killed in his anti-drug campaign have already been allowed to attend.

The confirmed charges include three counts of crimes against humanity for murder and attempted murder, allegedly carried out as part of a widespread and systematic attack against civilians in the country from Nov. 1, 2011 to March 16, 2019, covering Duterte’s time as Davao City mayor and later as president.