Duterte camp flags 62,000-plus evidence ahead of ICC trial, seeks 10,000 cap

MANILA, Philippines — The defense team of former President Rodrigo Duterte has asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to limit the prosecution’s evidence to 10,000 items, saying the case record has ballooned to more than 62,000 items ahead of his trial.

Defense counsel Peter Haynes filed the motion before ICC Trial Chamber III on Friday, September 25, citing the volume and quality of the evidence disclosed by the prosecution.

The defense said the prosecution initially disclosed 5,275 evidence items during the confirmation phase but later expanded the list to 62,130, a 978% increase.

The prosecution’s current List of Evidence contains 19,238 items, according to the defense.

“The Defence has no ability to read this volume of evidence prior to trial. However, even a cursory review demonstrates that much of the disclosed material is of extremely limited or no relevance to the charges in this case,” Haynes said.

The defense said the disclosure includes more than 320,000 pages of documents and 1,000 audio-visual materials.

“The sheer volume of material, disclosed to the Defence three months before the start of trial, undermines Mr Duterte’s right to adequate time for the preparation of his defence pursuant to Article 67(1)(b),” Haynes said.

The defense estimated that reviewing all the documentary evidence just once would take about 16,000 person-hours.

“On a conservative estimate of three minutes per page, it would take 16,000 person hours to review every disclosed item of documentary evidence just once,” Haynes said.

The defense also flagged problems with the evidence, including incorrect descriptions, dates and metadata, detached pages, illegible or blank items, duplicate documents, and untranslated or untranscribed audio and video files.

They said proceeding with the case under the current disclosure would also affect Duterte’s right to a timely trial.

“Proceeding to trial on this basis would undermine the efficiency of proceedings and, by consequence, Mr Duterte’s right to trial without undue delay,” Haynes said.

Defense asks for 10,000-item case record

Instead of seeking to postpone the trial, the defense proposed that the prosecution sort through the evidence and create a new case record containing a maximum of 10,000 items.

The proposed record would include exculpatory evidence, as well as duly reviewed and triaged Rule 77 and incriminating evidence.

“A reduction from 62,130 to 10,000 is significant,” the defense said.

They said the remaining evidence would still be accessible to Duterte’s lawyers, who would have to “read, watch, listen to, review and tag” the original case record.

Haynes asked the chamber to order the prosecution to work with the ICC Registry to create the new case record by October 7.

The defense said this would allow the trial to proceed as scheduled on November 30.

Duterte’s defense team is due to file its pre-trial brief on October 30.

Duterte remains detained

Duterte remains detained at the ICC in The Hague, where he faces crimes against humanity charges over killings linked to his war on drugs.

The 81-year-old former president appeared in person before the ICC on September 16 during the third status conference.

Trial Chamber III later ruled that he should remain detained, citing the likelihood that he could abscond or obstruct or endanger the investigation or court proceedings.

His trial is scheduled to begin on Nov. 30, 2026. — with a report from Cristina Chi