ICC deputy prosecutor Niang takes over Duterte case

International Criminal Court (ICC) Deputy Prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang will take over the case against former president Rodrigo Duterte in the wake of ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan’s leave of absence.

The Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) of the ICC has said that deputy prosecutors Niang and Nazhat Shameem Khan have assumed leadership, management and administration of the office.

“With regard to the Situation in the Philippines, Deputy Prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang retains leadership over this situation and the case against Mr Rodrigo Roa Duterte,” ICC said in a statement sent to GMA News Online.

“The Office of the Prosecutor reaffirms its commitment to the continued effective implementation of its mandate to deliver justice for victims of Rome Statute crimes, across all situations and cases globally,” it added.

Khan temporarily stepped down as the United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services investigates his alleged misconduct.

Duterte was arrested in the Philippines by local authorities on March 11 for charges of crimes against humanity for the extrajudicial killings during his administration’s war on drugs.

He is currently detained in the Scheveningen Prison in The Hague.

The chamber scheduled the hearing on the confirmation of the charges for September 23, 2025.

According to the ICC website, Niang has held senior positions in the Senegalese judicial system. 

He has been prosecutor general of the Appeals Court of Saint Louis in Senegal, director of Criminal Affairs and Pardons at the Senegalese Ministry of Justice, auditeur at the Senegalese Supreme Court, attached to the Prosecutor General, a trial attorney at the Regional Tribunal of Dakar, and magistrate at the Regional Tribunal of Dakar.

He has also served in various positions at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and was a regional representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Southern Africa, and a judge at the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the ICTR. –NB, GMA Integrated News