Zion Mhar Kaezer Corpuz

Following the issuance of an arrest warrant against former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte by the International Criminal Court (ICC), the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) unveiled the list of written and non-written pieces of evidence to be used against Duterte’s confirmation of charges hearing on September 23.

Photo Courtesy of IDI/New Naratif.

This hearing will determine if there is sufficient evidence to proceed to trial on allegations of crimes against humanity.

15:55 hours of audio-video files, 9 photographs, 421 pieces of written evidence with 8,565 pages of documents, and intends to call at most 2 witnesses to be used in the hearing, as confirmed by the OTP. 

The OTP, in the presence of prosecutor Karim Khan, disclosed these in their response to the Pre-Trial Chamber judges regarding the conduct of the confirmation of charges hearing via a redacted public copy released on April 15. 

The redacted public copy was released to withhold certain sensitive information for security or investigation purposes. 

The office also reiterates that these figures are only “at a minimum”; the prosecution is still in the process of finalizing the overall quantity of the evidence. 

“The prosecution is still in the process of determining the overall quantity of written and non-written documentary evidence that it intends to rely upon at the confirmation hearing,” ICC prosecutor Khan stated.

Furthermore, the prosecution is reviewing “significant amounts of documentary materials that require legal review prior to disclosure.”

This extensive collection of evidence underscores the gravity of the charges against the former president as the ICC moves towards the crucial confirmation hearing in September.