ASEAN Beat | Politics | Southeast Asia

Former Philippine President Duterte Makes First In-person Appearance at ICC

The physical state of the 81-year-old raised questions about his fitness to participate in what is likely to be a protracted trial.

Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte attends a status conference at Trial Chamber III at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands, Sep. 16, 2026.

Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte appeared in person at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the first time on Wednesday, ahead of his trial for atrocities committed during his violent “war on drugs” campaign.

Duterte, 81, has been in the court’s custody since his arrest in the Philippines in March 2025. He faces three charges of crimes against humanity for extrajudicial killings carried out during the anti-drug campaign, a flagship policy of his administration between 2016 and 2022.

For all of the pre-trial hearings so far, including his initial appearance in March 2025, Duterte has appeared via video link from the ICC’s detention unit.

He appeared yesterday before the ICC’s Trial Chamber III, which held a third status conference to discuss how to manage the sprawling case against Duterte. The Inquirer.net reported that the case involves “hundreds of thousands of pages of documents, more than 1,000 audio and video files, and an estimated 193 hours of direct examination by prosecution witnesses.”

During the proceedings, Duterte sat quietly sipping water and at one point stood and waved to family ​members in the public gallery, Reuters reported.

However, the physical condition of the former president, who appeared thin and haggard, raised the question of whether he will live to see a verdict – and whether he is even fit to stand trial.

Duterte’s attorneys claimed last year that he was in frail health and that his condition was deteriorating in the ICC’s detention unit. In one filing in June, they argued that the ex-president’s illness and “advanced age” created “compelling humanitarian grounds” for judges to grant his interim release. In September 2025, they claimed that he was unfit to stand trial due to “cognitive impairment in multiple domains.”

In January, judges rejected the defense claims, arguing that Duterte “is able effectively to exercise his procedural rights and is therefore fit to take part in the........

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