The International Criminal Court (ICC) Pre-Trial Chamber I has denied the appeal request filed by former President Rodrigo Duterte’s defense team seeking to challenge the tribunal’s decision confirming the crimes against humanity charges against him over the killings linked to his administration’s war on drugs.

In a 12-page decision made public Thursday, the Chamber unanimously rejected the request for leave to appeal filed by Duterte’s defense counsel, Nicholas Kaufman, ruling that the arguments raised by the camp merely “mischaracterised” the court’s earlier confirmation decision.

The ruling was issued by Presiding Judge Iulia Antoanella Motoc, Judge Reine Adélaïde Sophie Alapini-Gansou, and Judge María del Socorro Flores Liera.

Duterte’s camp earlier argued that the Pre-Trial Chamber committed legal errors by adopting what it described as an “impermissibly flexible approach” in defining the charges, allegedly weakening the requirement to fully inform the accused of the allegations against him.

The defense also claimed that the Chamber failed to clearly explain the evidentiary basis for confirming the charges and did not sufficiently address key arguments raised by the defense, including the alleged absence of a common plan.

However, the Chamber rejected both arguments, saying the defense conflated two separate legal issues — the proper delineation of charges and the accused’s right to be informed in detail of the accusations.

According to the Chamber, the temporal, geographical, and material scope of each of the three confirmed counts had already been clearly defined, including the relevant time periods, locations, perpetrators, and categories of victims involved.

The tribunal also clarified that the “flexible approach” cited by the defense only referred to the possibility that additional details could later emerge during trial proceedings without altering the factual basis of the confirmed charges.

“This makes it clear that the approach adopted did not, and should not, have any impact on the definition of the factual parameters of the charges,” the decision read.

The Chamber likewise dismissed the defense’s second argument, emphasizing that confirmation proceedings are not equivalent to a full trial and therefore do not require an incident-by-incident discussion of every piece of evidence presented.

According to the ICC, the Chamber properly assessed the evidence submitted by both the prosecution and defense, while only citing materials necessary to explain the reasoning behind its conclusions.

“For these reasons, the Defense’s submissions … amount to a mere disagreement with the manner in which the Chamber articulated its assessment of the evidence,” the ruling stated.

The ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I confirmed Duterte’s charges on April 23, committing him to stand trial for three counts of crimes against humanity connected to killings carried out during his term as Davao City mayor and later as President.

The confirmed charges include:

• Murder as a crime against humanity involving at least 19 victims in Davao City between 2013 and June 2016;
• Murder involving at least 14 alleged “high-value targets” across the Philippines between July 2016 and July 2017; and
• Murder and attempted murder involving at least 45 victims during barangay clearance operations between July 2016 and September 2018.

“The Chamber finds that there are substantial grounds to believe that Mr. Duterte is criminally responsible for the crimes charged,” the ICC said in its earlier confirmation decision.

Duterte remains under ICC custody as proceedings against him continue.