The International Criminal Court (ICC) has dismissed the Philippine government’s plea to cease the probe into the former president Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war. Despite the country’s withdrawal from the Rome Statute in 2018, three out of the five judges, including presiding judge Marc Perrin de Brichambaut, rejected the arguments put forth by the Philippines. Only two judges, including de Brichambaut, dissented from the decision.
During the court proceedings, streamed on the ICC’s official website and Facebook, the concurring judges affirmed that the ICC did not make any legal errors. Consequently, the investigation into the highly controversial drug war, led by ICC prosecutor Karim Khan, is set to resume after it was halted in November 2021 at the government’s request.
The investigation’s jurisdiction stems from the Philippines’ involvement in the Rome Statute since 2011 when the coverage of the drug war was initiated.
