Day 4 at ICC: Defense and prosecution clash as confirmation charges close

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February 28, 2026 | 8:36am

MANILA, Philippines — The International Criminal Court’s confirmation of charges hearing against former president Rodrigo Duterte has concluded, with both the prosecution and the defense delivering closing remarks.

After a four-day back-and-forth, both the prosecution and the defense delivered their closing remarks, not without heated exchanges.

Defense lawyer Nicholas Kaufman mainly relied on the lack of documented evidence, criticizing the prosecution’s reliance on witness testimonies and Duterte’s allegedly exaggerated statements.

Kaufman hammered down on earlier points he made: that Duterte does not have a direct link to the murders that occurred, since the perpetrators were not clearly identified or tied to an institution. He also sought to debunk the prosecution’s position that police reports were forged during the drug war, saying they had no proof that any fakery was committed.

The 'most responsible'

However, ICC senior trial lawyer Julian Nicholls rebutted this, saying that it was not uncommon for people who held power to hide their tracks. For example, when Duterte placed co-perpetrator Bato dela Rosa as his national police chief, it followed that police reports would be forged.

“We’re here, in this Court, to prosecute the most responsible. And the most responsible is his client, former president Duterte. Not the people on the ground who committed the killings, they are responsible but they are not the most comfortable. And unlike his client, the ones who have come forward, have shown remorse for what they have done,” Nicholls said.

Common legal representative for the victims Gilbert Andres also sought to rebut many of the claims made by Kaufman.

In one of his arguments, Kaufman said that Kian delos Santos was the only child killed among the cases that the prosecution brought up. This was supposedly shown by the lack of birth certificates for the two other victims whom the prosecution claimed to be children, the lawyer said.

Andres contradicted this, saying that outside of the specific cases brought to court, many other children were killed in the drug war.

Into the light

Speaking for the victims, Andres delivered an impassioned statement, calling for Duterte’s case to be taken to trial.

“The victims want these charges to be confirmed because they want to be reintegrated into their communities. Because they are still in the shadows of fake news. Of fear and of threats from Mr. Duterte’s supporters. Hence, it’s important, your Honor, that all of these charges be confirmed against Mr. Duterte, so that the victims of the crimes will be taken out of the shadow of darkness, into the light of truth and justice,” Andres said.

Final words

In their closing arguments, Kaufman—who had earlier criticized the prosecution for trying to appeal to emotion—made an impassioned plea about how much Duterte’s supporters longed for him to come home. The defense lawyer went as far as to describe the loads of flowers Duterte received from his fans and how they were left to rot.

Kaufman lamented that Duterte is frail and weak. He also accused the prosecution of releasing limited information in their case brief, leading to Duterte’s defense not being as strong as it could be.

This led to ICC Presiding Judge Iulia Motoc again scolding lawyer Kaufman. Despite Kaufman claiming that the defense had no access to the redacted information, Motoc said that the information was simply not made public, but Kaufman and his team have it.

Motoc also said that the ICC had already ruled that the former president was fit for trial.

Nicholls then appealed to the judges to strike out Kaufman's closing statements from the records after he quoted Duterte.

"None of that was responsive to arguments, which is what the last 30 minutes were about," Nicholls said.

The prosecution lawyer said that Kaufman could not testify on behalf of Duterte. Duterte himself refused to appear in person to speak for himself. The ICC Pre-Trial judges have not ruled on the matter but declared the confirmation of charges finished.

Shortly after the confirmation of charges, there was a detention review examining the conditions of Duterte’s stay in The Hague.

ICC trial lawyer Joel Butuyan reasoned that Duterte was a flight risk and has already insisted on not recognizing the jurisdiction of the ICC. If he were allowed to leave ICC facilities, Duterte has a broad network of supporters who could help him escape.

Kaufman said that the defense will not appeal Duterte’s detention.

The judges will render their decision on whether there is enough evidence to take Duterte’s case to trial within 60 days.