Prosecutor presents preliminary evidence against Duterte to ICC

April 17, 2025

International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan recently disclosed evidence gathered for the cases against Rodrigo Duterte, scheduled for approval this September. According to Khan, the prosecution has at least 421 documents, nine photographs, and nearly 16 hours of audio and video recordings, all of which will be submitted to the court. He stated that these numbers will continue to increase as the approval hearing approaches.

In this hearing, the ICC will decide whether to proceed with the case against Duterte for murder as a crime against humanity. The quantity and nature of the disclosed evidence will shed light on the topic of "ongoing widespread killings" first filed with the ICC in 2017.

Khan indicated that the prosecution is still gathering evidence. "We are in the process of determining the total number of written and oral documents we intend to use at the approval hearing," he said. Most of the evidence submitted so far comes from the arrest request filed against Duterte on March 12, which established a legal basis for his ICC oversight and current detention. Among the documents presented by Khan are 8,565 pages of written evidence.