Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte will face trial before the International Criminal Court (ICC) after judges yesterday confirmed charges of murder and attempted murder as crimes against humanity linked to his violent anti-drugs campaign.

In a statement yesterday, the ICC said that its Pre-Trial Chamber I “unanimously confirmed all the charges” against Duterte and “committed him to trial before a Trial Chamber.”

It added that the three-judge panel concluded that “there are substantial grounds to believe that Mr. Duterte is responsible for the crimes against humanity of murder and attempted murder.” These crimes “were committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack against a civilian population on the territory of the Republic of the Philippines” between November 1, 2011, and March 16, 2019.

This period covers both Duterte’s time as mayor of Davao City, and his time as president, ending on the date that he withdrew the Philippines from the ICC.

The Chamber based its decision on the “evidence and arguments” presented by prosecutors and defense counsel during the weeklong confirmation of charges in late February, the court’s statement said. It also took into account “the submissions and documents of the parties and participants, including participating victims.”

During the February 23-27 hearings, ICC prosecutors presented evidence to support three counts of murder and attempted murder allegedly committed in 49 specific incidents against 78 victims. Nineteen of the alleged murders were carried out between 2013 and 2016, when Duterte was mayor of Davao City. The remainder took place after his ascent to the presidency in 2016, when he launched a violent “war on drugs” campaign that took the lives of as many as 30,000 people. (The official figure from the Philippine police is 6,200.)

The judges’ decision came a day after the ICC’s Appeals Chamber rejected a request from Duterte’s legal team to dismiss the case on the grounds that the court did not have jurisdiction because of the Philippines’ withdrawal.

The pair of rulings mark an important milestone in the ICC’s case against Duterte, the culmination of years of painstaking legal work by prosecutors. In February 2018, the ICC prosecutor announced that it would open a preliminary investigation into “drug war” killings. The court then authorized a full investigation in September 2021.

For a long time, however, it seemed unlikely that Duterte would ever face trial. His own administration refused to cooperate with the ICC, and his successor, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. initially also opposed the case, claiming that the ICC had “no jurisdiction” over the Philippines. However, the political equation changed drastically during 2024, when the Duterte and Marcos families became locked into a bitter political feud. In March 2025, Marcos authorized Duterte’s arrest in Manila on an ICC warrant and his swift extradition to The Hague.

In a statement, Maria Elena Vignoli, senior international justice counsel at Human Rights Watch, said that the Chamber’s decision “opens the door to long-awaited justice for the families of ‘drug war’ victims and is an important acknowledgment of their suffering.” The International Federation for Human Rights described it as “a long-awaited breakthrough.”

The relatives of drug war victims also expressed their satisfaction at the outcome.

“This is for all the victims, who were not even given the chance to be recognized as victims because their stories were twisted in police reports, investigations, and findings,” Randy delos Santos, whose nephew, Kian delos Santos, was shot dead in August 2017 by three police officers, told the Associated Press. “Unlike Kian, most other victims were nameless, voiceless, and were just numbers and statistics whose horrific stories were never heard. Now the ICC will give their stories a chance to be told.”

In a statement, Duterte’s lead counsel Nicholas Kaufman lamented that the credibility of the witnesses was never assessed during the confirmation of charges hearings. He said that the Prosecution’s case was “based on the uncorroborated statements of vicious confessed murderers acting as cooperating witnesses,” whose credibility “was never assessed.”

Based on past precedent, Rappler reported that the trial is set to begin anytime between six and 18 months’ time. It is unclear whether Duterte will attend, since his defense team insists that he is too weak to follow proceedings. In January, judges found that he was fit to stand trial, rejecting a claim to the contrary from Duterte’s lawyers.

Duterte did not appear at the reading of the decision at the ICC yesterday.