ICC trial: Up to 70 witnesses eyed vs Duterte

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May 28, 2026 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — As many as 70 witnesses against former president Rodrigo Duterte may be presented during his coming trial for crimes against humanity before the International Criminal Court.

ICC senior trial lawyer Julian Nicholls confirmed this during the first status conference on the case held by the ICC Trial Chamber III at the tribunal’s Courtroom 1 in The Hague yesterday.

In its earlier filing, the ICC Office of the Prosecutor said that it intends to rely on the evidence from approximately 60 to 70 witnesses at trial, subject to further investigations and potential addition of witnesses.

These include 31 “insider witnesses,” 17 crime-based witnesses and 12 witnesses “who are relevant to explain the background and the contextual elements of the crimes charged.”

The prosecutor intends to call 25 to 30 of these witnesses to give viva voce or verbal testimony during the trial.

The rest of the witnesses would be presented under ICC’s Rule 68, which allows “the introduction of previously recorded audio or video testimony of a witness, or the transcript or other documented evidence of such testimony.”

“The prosecution intends to call as many of its witnesses as possible to testify in person at the seat of the Court,” ICC deputy prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang said in his May 15 filing.

“However, the prosecution anticipates that some witnesses may need to testify via audio/video link where the witness is unable to travel to the seat of the Court,” he added.

The prosecution estimated that its direct examination of the witnesses will take approximately 175 to 200 hours.

During the status conference, Presiding Judge Joanna Korner urged the prosecution to “consider very carefully” the 197 speeches identified as part of its evidence.

Nicholls assured the judges that they would narrow down the list and would not play all of these speeches, presumably by Duterte and other officials, during trial.

Korner immediately set the tone for Duterte’s upcoming trial at the start of the status conference, the first to be conducted by the ICC Trial Chamber III constituted to handle the case.

“In respect of trials, efficiency and effectiveness is dependent on actions taken by all parties to a trial,” Korner said.

She stressed that presentation of evidence “must take place in the shortest and clearest way” and reminded parties to avoid unnecessary and lengthy legal arguments.

Duterte, who was allowed to skip the proceedings, was represented by his new lead defense counsel Peter Haynes and associate counsel Kate Gibson.

Joining Korner were Judges Keebong Paek and Nicolas Guillou, while the victims were represented by Filipino lawyer Joel Butuyan and Paolina Massidda of the ICC Office of Public Counsel for the Victims.

Korner deferred ruling on the start of the trial date pending a re-examination of Duterte’s fitness to stand trial.

She said the independent panel of medical experts that previously examined the 81-year-old former president would again be instructed to assess his medical condition.

“As regards having them brought for any questioning, I rather think we’ll wait and see what the reports say before we make such a decision,” she said.

Haynes, whom Duterte tapped for the trial, earlier raised the need for the Trial Chamber to rule on the former president’s fitness before setting a trial date.

He said during the status conference that they would be ready for whatever date the judges would eventually set.

The ICC prosecutor wants Duterte’s trial to begin on Nov. 30, while lawyers representing the victims said it would be feasible to start as early as September.

Massidda said the victims would be amenable to a later trial date this year, but not to the January 2027 proposal of the ICC Registry.