MANILA — The legal team of former President Rodrigo Duterte has asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to immediately release him from detention, arguing that judges erred in disregarding medical findings showing he no longer has the cognitive and physical capacity to pose a flight risk, interfere with proceedings, or commit further crimes.
In an appeals brief filed on February 5, lead counsel Nicholas Kaufman challenged a ruling by Pre-Trial Chamber I that kept Duterte in continued detention, saying the chamber “committed substantial errors in fact and of law” when it declined to consider a joint medical report prepared by a neurologist and a neuropsychologist.
“The Pre-Trial Chamber 1 committed substantial errors in fact and of law when it declined to consider a joint medical report (‘Medical Report’) prepared by a leading neurologist of national standing and a neuropsychologist (‘Experts’),” Kaufman said.
According to the defense, the specialists concluded that Duterte lacks the ability to carry out complex actions and cannot pose a flight risk even under strict supervision.
“The experts,” the team said, “found Duterte incapable of planning or sequencing his daily activity, let alone capable of organizing and executing a complex getaway while under strict supervision.”
Kaufman added that the report detailed serious cognitive and physical limitations.
“The Medical Report detailed Mr. Duterte’s lack of executive functioning, sustained planning capacity, and rapid decision-making — to say nothing of his enfeebled physical state — that would make it impossible for him to evade custody,” he said.
The defense also maintained that Duterte does not have the capacity to interfere with the proceedings or commit additional offenses.
Duterte, the team added, is “incapable of exercising the sustained attention, initiative and organizational capacity necessary to endanger legal proceedings or to commit further similar crimes.”
Duterte is facing charges of crimes against humanity, including murder and attempted murder, over deaths linked to his anti-drug campaign during his tenure as president and earlier as mayor of Davao City. He is currently detained at an ICC facility in The Hague.
Earlier, on January 26, Pre-Trial Chamber I ruled that there were reasonable grounds to believe Duterte committed crimes within the ICC’s jurisdiction and declared him fit to participate in pre-trial proceedings. The chamber also denied his request for an indefinite adjournment and set the confirmation of charges hearing for February 23, 2026./PN
