Duterte legal team again challenges ICC jurisdiction, seeks immediate release

Metro Manila, Philippines - The defense team of former Philippine President Rodrigo Roa Duterte has again challenged the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) authority to prosecute him over the drug war killings committed under his administration, reiterating their call for his "immediate" and "unconditional" release.

In a document dated July 10, 2025, and posted on the ICC website, the defense argued that the Court has no jurisdiction over Duterte because the Philippines was no longer a State Party to the Rome Statute - the treaty that created the ICC - when jurisdiction was exercised.

“Put simply, if the State in question is not a State Party contemporaneously with the exercise of jurisdiction, then no investigation may be initiated and whatever steps were taken during the preliminary examination lack consequence,” the defense stated, dismissing the Prosecution's interpretation of Article 12(2) of the Rome Statute as a "semantic debate" and a "fundamental red herring."

The lawyers said a "commonsense interpretation" of the Statute requires the court to only act while a country remains a member.

“The Defense’s more common sense interpretation of Article 12(2) would obviate the need to even consider the legal effect of Article 127(2),” they said.

The team also criticized the prosecution for invoking the principle of fighting impunity to justify jurisdiction despite textual inconsistencies in the Statute:

“The ‘fight against impunity’ cannot warrant an inappropriate application of the Rome Statute,” the filing said, citing both previous ICC jurisprudence and alleged inconsistencies in how the prosecution interprets treaty language across cases.

Responding to arguments that Duterte should not benefit from his administration’s 2018 withdrawal from the ICC, the defense said the former president has not avoided legal scrutiny.

“Mr Duterte has never expressed a desire to shirk accountability. Quite the opposite,” the document said. “Upon arrest, Mr Duterte had the following to say: ‘If I committed a sin, prosecute me in Philippine courts, with Filipino judges, and I will allow myself to be jailed in my own nation.’”

The team further accused the prosecution of failing to initiate a formal investigation within the permissible timeline before the withdrawal took effect in 2019. This delay, it said, undermines the legality of current proceedings.

“The Prosecution... must shoulder the responsibility for its miscalculated and, ultimately, erroneous decision not to initiate an investigation within the designated time-period,” the defense wrote, citing a 2023 dissenting opinion from Judges Brichambaut and Lordkipanidze.

The defense urged the ICC to halt the case. “The Defence respectfully REQUESTS the Pre-Trial Chamber to find that there is no jurisdictional basis for the continuation of proceedings against Mr Duterte and to order his immediate and unconditional release,” the document read .