Kaufman: Report on Duterte’s fitness to stand trial possibly out this week

THE HAGUE – Former President Rodrigo Duterte's legal team is expecting the report of a panel of medical experts who examined the 80-year-old Duterte’s fitness to stand trial before the International Criminal Court (ICC) to be released later this week.

Duterte’s legal counsel, Nicholas Kaufman, said the report of the ICC-accredited expert panel on Duterte’s condition may be released on December 5.

“On the 5th of December, we’re due to receive the panel of experts’ reports, the medical evaluations of the former President. Until then, I’m not really entitled to comment or even suggest what might be contained in those reports because there’s an ongoing litigation,” Kaufman said in an interview with GMA Integrated News on the sidelines of the 24th Assembly of States Parties of the ICC here.

“We hope that the evaluation of the medical experts will prove that we are right in our submissions. We work with [Duterte] on a daily basis, and we find it extremely difficult because of the impediments that he’s facing,” he added.

Kaufman said they will submit their reply to the findings of the medical experts’ panel on or before December 12.

The lawyer said the former President was “disappointed but hardly surprised” upon learning of the ICC Appeals Chamber’s rejection of his appeal for interim release.

Kaufman said he informed Duterte of the ICC’s decision after the hearing on November 28, adding that the defense was expecting the decision “legally and politically.”

“In fact, we told him that never in the history of the ICC has a suspect been released when charged with crimes against humanity. If we’d have succeeded, it would have been miraculous. It would have been a great occasion,” Kaufman said.

He added: “Here we are today, at the Assembly of State Parties, where the state parties of the ICC normally come together and celebrate the achievements of the court. Can you imagine what would have been here today if the former President had been released as we wished he would have been?”

Kaufman and his team are also expecting a decision on their appeal regarding the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I’s rejection of the defense team’s challenge to its jurisdiction.

The decision on their appeal is expected to be released after the ICC’s judicial recess. The ICC will open its 2026 judicial year on January 27 next year.

“We’ve filed our appeal on that, and as I said, the litigation is ongoing, and we expect a decision perhaps not before the end of this year but shortly after the commencement of the next term of the ICC,” Kaufman said.

Following the ICC Appeals Chamber’s denial of Duterte’s renewed appeal for interim release, the former President will spend Christmas at the Scheveningen Prison, where he has been detained since March 12.

He is facing charges of crimes against humanity in connection with his war on illegal drugs during his term as former President and as Davao City mayor. — JMA, GMA Integrated News