The International Criminal Court (ICC) has denied former president Rodrigo Duterte's bid to disqualify two judges from the Pretrial Chamber 1. In a June 9 ruling signed by Judge Tomoko Akane, the ICC said the application to change the chamber's composition was rejected unanimously during a plenary session. Duterte's defense team had sought the removal of Judges Reine Adélaïde Sophie Alapini Gansou and María del Socorro Flores Liera, citing concerns over perceived bias due to the judges' prior rulings related to jurisdiction in the ongoing cases regarding the Philippines' war on drugs.
This is the second time Duterte's defense team has failed to disqualify the judges concerned. The defense's concerns centered around the judges' potential bias, stemming from their involvement in previous rulings affirming jurisdiction over the Philippines despite the nation's withdrawal from the ICC in 2019. This ongoing jurisdictional challenge remains undecided.
Duterte is detained in the Netherlands following his arrest in March 2025 for crimes against humanity. He is the first former Philippine president and head of state in Asia to face such charges. His case is rooted in allegations surrounding thousands of extrajudicial killings linked to his notorious war on drugs, which human rights organizations have documented.
Read more here.
