Former President Rodrigo Duterte lost his third appeal for temporary release from The Hague Penitentiary Institution, the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) rejecting his latest attempt “in its entirety.”
In a decision released on Friday, the chamber unanimously dismissed Duterte’s lawyer’s arguments and rejected all his grounds of appeal.
The former president’s lawyer Nicholas Kaufman asked for a reconsideration of the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I’s January 2026 rejection of an earlier appeal for Duterte’s temporary release on various health and other grounds.
But the appelate ICC chamber upheld both decisions, saying the pre-trial chamber’s decisions were fair.
“[T]he Appeals Chamber considers that the Defence has failed to establish any error of the Pre-Trial Chamber with respect to the fairness of the proceedings. Therefore, the Appeals Chamber rejects the arguments of the Defence in this respect”
“[T]he Appeals Chamber rejects the Defence’s arguments concerning the principle of equality of arms, as well as Mr Duterte’s rights to a fair hearing and to a reasoned decision,” it added.
Kaufman and Duterte’s family members claim the former strongman, accused of ordering the killing of up to more than 30,000 Filipinos as Davao City mayor and Philippine president, has gotten frail and has declining cognitive condition.
A battery of ICC-accredited doctors, however, testified that he is physically and mentally fit to stand trial.
Last month, Duterte faced four days of confirmation of charges hearings at the ICC where he was accused of creating, funding, and arming death squads that carried out murders of alleged drug users and pushers.
He is expected to undergo full trial as the first Asian head of state to be charged with crimes against humanity later this year or early in 2027.
Duterte was arrested at the Manila International Airport on March 11, 2025 and sent to The Hague where he had since been languishing at the Scheveningen Prison. (Raymund B. Villanueva)
