Trial preparations have intensified in the case against former president Rodrigo Duterte, with prosecutors at the International Criminal Court confirming they have turned over 6,909 items to his legal team ahead of proceedings tied to his deadly antidrug crackdown.
The bulk of that material, 4,573 items, falls under Rule 77, meaning the tangible evidence can be examined by the defense as it builds its case. A separate set of 2,279 items was tagged as incriminating, and 57 were flagged as potentially clearing the former leader of wrongdoing. The disclosures were made between January 7 and July 31, according to a notification the Office of the Prosecutor lodged on August 5 and released publicly on Thursday.
The incriminating evidence stretches across a roughly eight-year window, from November 1, 2011 to March 16, 2019, a span that captures Rodrigo’s time running Davao City and later the country. Prosecutors say the material touches on deaths tied to antidrug sweeps, the pursuit of supposed high-value targets, and conduct they attribute to the group known as the Davao Death Squad.
Rodrigo answers to three counts of crimes against humanity, rooted in allegations that killings formed part of a broad and organized assault on civilians while he served as mayor and, afterward, as president. Pre-Trial Chamber I gave those counts the green light on April 23, clearing the path to trial.
The matter has since moved to Trial Chamber III, where Presiding Judge Joanna Korner sits alongside Judge Keebong Paek and Judge Nicolas Guillou, per the ICC Registry. The panel has lined up status conferences before opening arguments, one of them set for September 7, and has directed the prosecution to file its finalized trial brief by August 31. Judges have also warned each side to keep its arguments inside the courtroom, stressing that the case belongs before the bench and not in the court of public opinion.
This round of disclosures ranks among the heaviest since Rodrigo was taken into ICC custody in March 2025. In the days after his arrest, prosecutors released 181 items running to nearly 3,000 pages. That was followed by 421 documentary items and close to 16 hours of audiovisual recordings, then at least 1,303 more items across the second half of last year.
The Registry, in a separate report filed August 6 and unsealed Thursday, detailed how it moved case files to and from prosecutors under two Trial Chamber III rulings. It sent over the first batch on June 1, after the chamber signed off on May 28, and delivered a second on June 24 once judges partially approved another request on June 22. Prosecutors returned everything from both requests on July 29, and the report carried confidential annexes tracing the chain of custody.
The trial is slated to open November 30. Rodrigo, held at The Hague since Philippine authorities surrendered him on an ICC warrant, has rejected any guilt and has consistently disputed the court’s authority to reach into the Philippines.
