THE International Criminal Court’s (ICC) Pre-Trial Chamber I has issued the full schedule and procedural directions for the confirmation of charges hearing of former president Rodrigo Duterte.
The court fixed the proceedings for Feb. 23–27, while calendaring the annual review of his detention for the end of the hearing week.
In an order dated Jan. 27, the chamber said the confirmation of charges hearing will open on Feb. 23 with the formal reading of charges, followed by opening statements from the prosecution, the common legal representatives for victims (CLRV) and the defense.
Submissions on the merits will continue on Feb. 24 for the prosecution and the CLRV. The defense will present its arguments on Feb. 26 and conclude on Feb. 27, when closing statements will also be delivered. The defense will have the last word.
The chamber allocated specific speaking times to each party. The prosecution will have 30 minutes for opening, 2.5 hours for merits and 30 minutes for closing. The common legal representatives for victims will also have 30 minutes for opening, 1.5 hours for merits and 30 minutes for closing, while the defense will have 30 minutes for opening, 3.5 hours for merits and 30 minutes for closing.
The order followed a series of procedural developments. Duterte first appeared before the court on March 14, 2025, and the hearing was initially scheduled for Sept. 23, 2025. On Sept. 8, 2025, the chamber postponed the proceedings indefinitely after the defense sought a determination of Duterte’s fitness to participate.
On Jan. 26, the chamber rejected the defense’s request for adjournment, found Duterte fit to participate and decided to resume the case. On the same day, the chamber also issued a separate decision remanding Duterte in detention and appointing common legal representatives for victims.
The annual hearing on the review of Duterte’s detention is scheduled for Feb. 27, following the conclusion of the confirmation of charges hearing. That hearing will be conducted through oral submissions only, with 20 minutes each allotted to the prosecution and defense and 15 minutes to the CLRV.
To govern Duterte’s participation, judges adopted medical recommendations limiting proceedings to no more than four days per week with a midweek break. Sessions will include hourly breaks and be capped at three hours per day.
Pre-Trial Chamber I is composed of Presiding Judge Iulia Antoanella Motoc, Judge Reine Alapini-Gansou and Judge Maria del Socorro Flores Liera.
The ICC earlier endorsed human rights lawyers Joel Butuyan and Gilbert Andres as the CLRV for at least 29 drug war victims. Both are registered with the ICC and have assisted families in filing cases against those behind Duterte’s “war on drugs.” Meanwhile, Vice President Sara Duterte said she would speak to her father about the possibility of changing his lawyers.
”I will ask that question tomorrow of former President Duterte. I forgot that question earlier,” she told supporters outside the Scheveningen Prison at The Hague on Tuesday.
The former president’s current legal counsel is British-Israeli lawyer and former ICC prosecutor Nicholas Kaufman.
In a separate interview with blogger Alvin and Tourism, the vice president said statements by family members should not be used as a legal basis to deny her father’s interim release. She described the ICC as a “biased political court.”
”If they already prejudged the case of Rodrigo Duterte, we also have prejudged the ICC as a biased political court. That it is not a court of justice,” she said.
