Duterte camp seeks cap on evidence

Photos courtesy of the International Criminal Court show former president Rodrigo Duterte during his first in-person appearance before the tribunal since his arrest in March 2025.

Photos / ICC | via Janvic Mateo

MANILA, Philippines — The defense team of former president Rodrigo Duterte has asked trial judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to limit to 10,000 items the evidence that prosecutors can use in his upcoming trial for crimes against humanity.

In a 14-page request made public over the weekend, Duterte’s lawyer Peter Haynes reiterated the defense’s concerns over the volume and quality of evidence disclosed by the prosecution.

From the initial 5,275 items of evidence presented during the confirmation phase, the prosecution’s evidence has expanded to 62,130 items. Of these, 19,238 have been included in the current list of evidence, according to the defense.

“The defense 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.

“In addition to its quantity, the quality of this material is abysmal. The defense has raised systematic and persistent disclosure problems with the prosecution,” he added, citing allegedly incorrect descriptions, illegible or blank items and duplicates, among other issues.

Haynes said the “sheer volume of material” disclosed three months before the start of the trial undermines Duterte’s right to adequate time to prepare his defense.

The ICC prosecutor objected to the defense’s characterization of the disclosed evidence during the third status conference on Sept. 23, although the prosecution has yet to respond in writing.

The defense asked the ICC Trial Chamber III to order the prosecution to create a new case record and migrate all evidence into it, with the material limited to “up to an absolute maximum of 10,000 items.”

“A reduction from 62,130 to 10,000 is significant,” Haynes said. “In the defense submission, the starting point would be for the prosecution to exclude all items from the large dataset, as well as any unverified, duplicative, illegible, repetitive or irrelevant material, which should never have been included in the first place.” The trial chamber has yet to rule on the request.

The matter is expected to be addressed ahead of Duterte’s trial, which is scheduled to start on Nov. 30.