The legal team of former President Rodrigo Duterte has submitted a joint medical report prepared by its own experts to the International Criminal Court (ICC), arguing that the 80-year-old’s health has further deteriorated and now warrants his interim release from detention.
In a 12-page filing dated January 9, Duterte’s lawyer Nicholas Kaufman attached the joint report as an annex for the consideration of ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I. The defense said the new medical evidence is intended to help the chamber assess whether Duterte’s condition sufficiently mitigates the statutory risk factors to justify his release to a state party willing to receive him.
The submission came more than a month after an ICC-appointed three-member panel of experts submitted their joint and individual assessments on Duterte’s fitness to stand trial.
Citing the defense’s medical report, Kaufman said Duterte lacks executive functioning, sustained planning capacity, rapid decision-making ability, physical stamina, and the capacity to evade supervision.
“These capacities are either clearly compromised or, at a minimum, practically unavailable to him in his current condition,” Kaufman said.
Addressing concerns about potential threats to witnesses and the integrity of the investigation, Kaufman argued that such risks would require sustained attention, organizational capacity, and the ability to coordinate intermediaries, capacities he said Duterte no longer possesses.
He added that neither the defense experts nor the ICC-appointed experts found any clinical indication of disinhibition, aggression, or manipulative behavior.
“The notion of witness intimidation does not align with Mr. Duterte’s functional abilities or with the realities of an environment where his liberty is restricted and strictly supervised,” Kaufman said.
On the possibility of continued commission of crimes, Kaufman said Duterte’s impaired executive functioning and inability to plan or sustain attention would prevent him from overseeing complex chains of command similar to those alleged in the case.
The defense urged the Pre-Trial Chamber to order Duterte’s interim release under the same terms previously proposed, noting that ICC rules require the chamber to review detention decisions at least every 120 days and reconsider them when circumstances have changed.
Kaufman described Duterte as an “emaciated, infirm and incapacitated shadow of his former self,” citing unexplained weight loss and constant 24/7 video surveillance, which he said is imposed not due to flight risk but out of concern for Duterte’s safety.
He also claimed that Duterte is unable to manage his own nourishment and medication, adding that the former president has not appeared in court for ten months despite repeated defense requests.
“When he is finally invited to attend a hearing on his detention, his demeanor will be assessed and his purported propensity to flee, threaten, or commit crime will be exposed for what it is—a wholly unreasonable and fanciful assertion,” Kaufman said.
Kaufman further rejected prosecution claims that Duterte is feigning illness or deliberately manipulating his appearance, stressing that none of the court-appointed experts found evidence of malingering or intentional underperformance during medical assessments.
Any perceived cognitive underperformance, he said, should instead be attributed to Duterte’s neurological condition.
The ICC-appointed panel of experts submitted their reports on December 5, 2025 following medical examinations to assess Duterte’s fitness to stand trial. While the ICC has yet to rule on the matter, the Office of the Prosecutor has said Duterte was found capable of fully engaging and participating in the proceedings.
Meanwhile, the Office of Public Counsel for Victims (OPCV) has asked the court to rule on Duterte’s fitness and to set the confirmation of charges hearing “without further delay,” citing the drug war victims’ right to a speedy trial.
Earlier on January 9, the ICC also denied a request by Duterte’s lawyers to appeal a ruling that refused disclosure of communications between the ICC registry and the panel of experts who evaluated his fitness to stand trial.
