November 28, 2025
MANILA – The Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) will decide Friday on former President Rodrigo Duterte’s appeal against continued detention.
It will be delivered in an open court in Courtroom I, at the seat of the Court in The Hague, The Netherlands, and will be transmitted live through the ICC’s channels at 5:30 p.m. (Philippine time).
What should the public expect?
- Duterte’s absence
The former President, as confirmed by his legal counsel Nicholas Kaufman, had already signed a waiver, choosing not to exercise his right to attend the reading of the judgment for his appeal.
READ: Duterte waives right to attend ICC ruling on interim release appeal
Duterte did not provide a reason for his absence. The ICC, on the other hand, had already confirmed that his defense lawyer will represent him.
Kaufman is Duterte’s counsel on record, and it will be the first time that he is publicly facing the court for the former President.
- Duration of the hearing
Human rights lawyer and ICC Assistant to Counsel Kristina Conti, in a note she shared via X, said the November 28 hearing will not last longer than two hours.
According to her, the decision of the Appeals Chamber regarding the interim release will only be read, and it will only be until 7:30 p.m. at the maximum.
- A woman will preside; unfamiliar faces will be seen at the judges’ table
Conti further said the public can expect to see different faces at the judges’ table during the hearing.
She said the Appeals Chamber is composed of five members, and the presiding judge is expected to be Judge Luz del Carmen Ibañez.
She also noted that deputy prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang will serve as the lead prosecutor of her team, while ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan will no longer appear in the case.
Additionally, Conti said the Office of the Public Counsel for Victims will appear on behalf of the victims’ interests while the actual victims participating in the case “have not yet been finalized.”
- ‘Little to no impact’ on the main case
Conti believes that whatever the decision of the judges may be, it would have “little to no impact on the progress of the main case.”
She argued that whether inside or outside the ICC detention facility, the hearings “can proceed if the go-signal is eventually granted after the court rules on Duterte’s other pending requests.”
Duterte, who is facing three counts of murder over 49 killings, is currently detained at the Scheveningen Prison in The Hague, though his camp has argued that he was unfit to stand for trial.
The ICC currently has custody of Duterte after he was arrested and sent to The Hague for crimes against humanity he allegedly committed during his administration’s bloody war against drugs.
The anti-drug campaign dubbed Oplan Tokhang left at least 6,000 people dead, but human rights groups have reported at least 20,000 killed.
On September 26, 2025, Pre-Trial Chamber I rejected the Defense’s Requests for interim release of Duterte and ordered the continued detention of the suspect.
The Defense is appealing Pre-Trial Chamber I’s decision.