Senior Trial Lawyer Julian Nicholls, on the fourth day of the confirmation of charges hearing at the International Criminal Court (ICC), argued that former President Rodrigo Duterte withdrew the Philippines from the Rome Statute to prevent further international investigation into alleged drug war crimes.
Responding to lead defense counsel Nicholas Kaufman, who questioned why the ICC was not examining killings under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Nicholls said the court’s jurisdiction was curtailed by Duterte’s own actions.
“His client prevented all that by withdrawing the Philippines from the Rome Statute when he thought he might be prosecuted. Thereby ensuring that we would not have jurisdiction after a certain period,” Nicholls told the chamber, stressing that the ICC retains authority only over crimes committed, while the country was still a State Party.
The Philippines formally withdrew from the Rome Statute in March 2019, a year after the ICC opened a preliminary examination into alleged extrajudicial killings linked to Duterte’s anti-drug campaign. However, the court maintains jurisdiction over the crimes allegedly committed between November 2011 and March 2019, covering Duterte’s term as Davao City mayor and later as president.
Nicholls delivered a forceful rebuttal to the defense’s narrative, stating, "The facts can’t be denied by these sprinklings. He ran a death squad in Davao that he created. He ran it for 20 years before he became president. His promise was to kill thousands, and he did.”
Prosecutors allege that killings carried out during the drug war formed part of a widespread and systematic attack against civilians—a threshold required for crimes against humanity.
The defense continues to challenge both jurisdiction and the sufficiency of evidence. ICC judges are expected to decide in the coming months whether to confirm the charges and send the case to a full trial.
