ICC prosecutors: Duterte’s jurisdiction challenge ‘fundamentally flawed’

File photo of former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte during his initial appearance at the International Criminal Court on March 14, 2025 in The Hague.

MANILA, Philippines — The prosecution said the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) Pre Trial Chamber 1 should junk the challenge raised by former president Rodrigo Duterte’s legal team regarding the tribunal’s jurisdiction over the Philippines, calling it “fundamentally flawed.”

In a 35-page filing dated June 10, Deputy Prosecutor Mame Mandiaye asked the Pre Trial Chamber 1 to dismiss the challenge and affirm the court’s exercise of jurisdiction over Duterte.

READ: Duterte-defense-team-challenges-icc

“The argument on behalf of Mr. Duterte rests on two fundamentally flawed propositions,” the document simply states.

According to the Prosecution, in order for the defense’s challenge to be granted, it must succeed on the following:

First, the defense claims that the Statute makes the Court’s jurisdiction conditional not only on the Philippines’ status as a State Party when the alleged crimes were carried out but also when the Court’s exercise of jurisdiction was triggered

Second, the defense further contends that governing withdrawals from the Statute allows the Court to be deprived of jurisdiction.

But the prosecution said the ICC Pre Trial Chamber 1 which handles Duterte’s case should reject both arguments raised by the Defense, emphasizing that these “misinterpret the relevant provisions of the Statute.”

READ: icc-trial-public-counsel-seeks-defense-challenge-on-jurisdictions-dismissal

“In so doing, the Chamber should follow and as necessary elaborate upon its own reasoning in issuing the warrant for Duterte’s arrest and the reasoning of the Pre-Trial Chamber in its former composition in authorising the investigation of the Situation in the Philippines,” the prosecution stated.

The prosecution was referring to the 38-page “Defence Challenge with Respect to Jurisdiction” issued by Duterte’s team. It specifically challenged the ICC’s jurisdiction over the ex-chief executive’s arrest for alleged crimes against humanity.

This was used by Duterte’s team to appeal that he be released immediately and the case against him be nullified forthwith, stating that there is no legal basis for the continuation of the proceedings against the former president.

But the defense’s argument regarding jurisdiction runs opposite to the ICC’s earlier explanation that while the Philippine government withdrew from the Rome Statute took effect on March 17, 2019, the Court retains jurisdiction with respect to alleged crimes that occurred on the territory of the Philippines while it was a State Party, from November 1, 2011 up to and including March 16, 2019./mr