Duterte camp, ICC prosecutors clash over interim release motion

The defense team of former President Rodrigo Duterte has asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to suspend its decision on his request for interim release, citing delays in obtaining what it described as essential information. The prosecution has opposed the move, arguing that the defense itself had chosen to file the application prematurely.

According to a redacted public copy of the defense's request before the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I, signed by Duterte’s counsel, Atty. Nicholas Kaufman, filed on 14 July 2025 and made public on 18 July, the defense said the Pre-Trial Chamber should not make its first determination on interim release until certain materials, whose contents, according to them, were withheld in the public version, are made available to both the defense and the Chamber.

“At the time Mr Duterte’s request for interim release was submitted on 12 June 2025, the Defence had been, for some time, seeking to obtain [REDACTED]… The Defence’s attempts to obtain [REDACTED] over the course of two months have, for the most part, been slow-walked and stymied,” the filing read.

The defense said it had exchanged more than 20 emails since May 19 regarding their requests, but the content and recipient of the correspondence were not disclosed in the public version of the document.

The defense also said the Prosecution’s characterization of the incomplete material was misleading. They urged the Chamber to seek the views of the Office of the Prosecutor and the Office of Public Counsel for Victims as a matter of urgency before making any decision on Duterte’s continued detention.

Prosecution urges ruling to proceed

In its “Public Redacted Version of the Prosecution’s Response to ‘Urgent Defence Request to Suspend Adjudication on the Defence Request for Interim Release’,” signed by Deputy Prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang and dated 17 July 2025, the Office of the Prosecutor asked the Chamber to reject the defense’s motion.

The prosecution argued that the defense “had full control over when it filed its Request for Interim Release and chose to do so in reliance on an incomplete [REDACTED].” It said the defense should not now ask the Chamber to delay adjudication in order to later supplement that request.

In its publicly redacted filing, the prosecution rejected the defense’s claim of being placed in a “highly prejudicial situation,” asserting that any disadvantage resulted from the defense’s own timing. The details of what was incomplete, and the broader context of the dispute, were not disclosed in the public version of the documents.

The prosecution also pointed out that the defense had previously emphasized the urgency of the interim release matter. 

“The Defence submitted that the issue of interim release needed to be resolved urgently, to the extent that it requested that the Chamber reduce the Prosecution’s time limit to respond,” the Prosecution wrote.

“In a complete reversal, the Defence now asks the Chamber, again on an urgent basis, not to rule on its Request for Interim Release.” the filing read.

While the defense claimed that additional information would be “vital” to its application, the Prosecution said that assertion was speculative. It noted that the defense may file a renewed application under Article 60(3) of the Rome Statute should new facts arise. The specific nature of the information referred to remains redacted.

Both filings were submitted to ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I, composed of Presiding Judge Iulia Antoanella Motoc, Judge Reine Adélaïde Sophie Alapini-Gansou, and Judge María del Socorro Flores Liera. As of this report, the Chamber has not issued a ruling on either the suspension request or the original motion for interim release.

Prior to this, Duterte’s lawyers filed on July 15 a request for an “urgent” status conference, or a procedural meeting, over what it cited as “delays” that could not be attributed to the defense. 

In the filing, the defense requested that such a conference be done before the ICC’s summer recess on July 25 to help determine whether the current deadline before the confirmation of charges hearing, set for September 23, remains feasible.

Duterte remains in ICC custody while pre-trial proceedings continue concerning alleged crimes linked to his administration’s war on drugs. —KG, GMA Integrated News