Overview
- Duterte made his first public courtroom appearance in 18 months on Wednesday, Sept. 16, as the ICC heard competing views on his capacity to stand trial.
- His defence filed a 13‑page submission saying he suffers significant memory impairment that prevents him from retaining recent information and sometimes causes him to forget his lawyer’s name.
- The prosecution, in a heavily redacted reply, maintains that Duterte is capable of meaningfully exercising his procedural and fair trial rights and is fit for trial.
- Judges have the confidential three‑expert medical assessment and told parties to narrow evidence and cut the number of witnesses to keep the trial to a tighter timetable ahead of the Nov. 30 start.
- The case accuses Duterte of directing a widespread campaign of killings from 2011 to 2019 with disputed death tolls from about 6,200 to roughly 30,000, and it has major political resonance in the Philippines after the country tried to leave the ICC and other prosecutions of Duterte‑era figures followed his March 2025 arrest.