Marilyn Cahatol

Article (news)

Jonathan Magistrado

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px;display:block" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/17825181884411782518185286.jpeg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left"><em>The International Criminal Court in The Hague, The Netherlands </em></span></span></span></div><p>MANILA — The defense team of former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has pushed back against the International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecution&#x27;s latest request to inspect items seized during his arrest, labeling their efforts a late-stage &quot;fishing expedition&quot;.</p><p>In two separate public redacted responses submitted to ICC Trial Chamber III on June 26, 2026, lead defense counsel Peter Haynes, asked the court to reject multiple investigative requests from the prosecution to prevent undue delays in the high-profile case.</p><div> </div><div><strong>&#x27;FAR TOO LATE&#x27; REQUESTS</strong></div><p>In the first filing, labeled &quot;Response to Prosecution’s request for materials in the custody of the Registry,&quot; the defense argued that the prosecution&#x27;s request to inspect materials currently held by the ICC Registry comes far too late in the procedural timeline.</p><p>Haynes noted that the prosecution has known about the items in the Registry&#x27;s possession since March 14, 2025, but failed to seek possession until well after the confirmation of charges.</p><p>&quot;Such requests are usually made within days of the arrival of the suspect in custody, or at the earliest opportunity,&quot; the defense stated.</p><p>Haynes warned that launching an expansive new analysis of the evidence at this point threatens the prosecution&#x27;s own stated timeline to complete case disclosures by September 30, 2026.</p><p>The defense also dismissed the prosecution’s demands for a new inventory and a court order to freeze any money found among the seized items.</p><p>Haynes argued that an existing &quot;chain of custody&quot; form already functions as a proper inventory and that any seized funds are already securely held by the Registry, making a new freezing order entirely redundant.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/6/23/amid-high-public-interest-icc-judge-issues-warning-to-counsels-vs-media-statements-1734">Amid high public interest, ICC judge issues warning to counsels vs. media statements</a></div><div> </div><div><strong>&#x27;FISHING EXPEDITION&#x27;</strong></div><p>The legal battle intensified in the second response, found in &quot;Response to Prosecution’s Second Request for Materials in the Custody of the Registry,” which addressed a subsequent prosecution motion filed on June 9, 2026, seeking access to specific redacted items and &quot;all keys in the Registry&#x27;s custody&quot;.</p><p>While the defense noted it &quot;does not oppose access&quot; to certain redacted materials, it drew a hard line against handing over the keys. Haynes slammed the request as lacking basic legal justification, arguing that investigators have failed to connect the keys to the alleged crimes.</p><p>&quot;The request is, in substance, a fishing expedition,&quot; the defense asserted.  &quot;The Prosecution cannot be permitted to examine the keys in order to articulate, post facto, the evidential foundation required to justify that examination in the first place.&quot; The defense also raised significant privacy concerns for third parties, noting that the keys were seized while Duterte was traveling with his family.</p><p>&quot;It is entirely possible that the keys provide access to material belonging to, or concerning, his relatives, such that their examination would intrude upon the privacy rights of third parties,&quot; Haynes argued, stating that the move is neither necessary nor proportionate.</p><div> </div><div><strong>DEFENSE DEMANDS STRICT DEADLINE</strong></div><p>To prevent the trial from being derailed by ongoing evidence hunts, the defense has formally requested Trial Chamber III—led by Presiding Judge Joanna Korner, Judge Keebong Paek, and Judge Nicolas Guillou—to enforce a strict deadline of June 30 for any further prosecution requests regarding Registry materials.</p><p>Haynes emphasized that enforcing a strict deadline is crucial to ensuring the defense has adequate time to prepare its strategy and to safeguard the &quot;expeditiousness of the proceedings.</p><p>The dispute stems from a series of motions that began on May 1, when the ICC Prosecution first filed a request for the Registry to produce a full inventory of items seized from Duterte upon his arrest, grant full access to investigative materials, and freeze any seized monetary assets.</p><p>Following formal observations submitted by both the Duterte defense team and the Registry, Trial Chamber III issued a partial ruling on May 28.</p><p>In that decision, the Chamber granted the prosecution’s request to freeze the seized money and ordered the Registry to generate an official inventory.</p><p>However, the judges ruled it &quot;premature&quot; to grant the prosecution blanket access to the items at that time, directing the investigators to file a separate, more specific request if they wished to inspect any particular item listed on the newly generated inventory.</p><p>This directive led to the prosecution&#x27;s subsequent June 9 motion targeting specific redacted materials and all keys in custody, which the defense is now vigorously fighting.  </p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/6/24/icc-trial-chamber-wants-rodrigo-duterte-to-appear-in-sept-7-status-conference-1202">ICC judge expects Duterte to attend Sept. 7 status conference</a></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO:</strong></div><div style="text-align:center"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uflVb4fsBZg?si=XzWayIBOWzz_o2Zw" title="YouTube video player" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div>

<p>The defense team of former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has pushed back against the International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecution's latest request to inspect items seized during his arrest, labeling their efforts a late-stage "fishing expedition".</p>

The defense team of former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has pushed back against the International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecution's latest request to inspect items seized during his arrest, labeling their efforts a late-stage "fishing expedition".

Duterte defense slams ICC prosecution's 'evidence hunt', demands strict deadline

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Duterte defense slams ICC prosecution's 'evidence hunt', demands strict deadline

Jonathan Magistrado,

ABS-CBN News

Published June 27, 2026 08:15 AM PHT

Read More:

ICC

The Hague

Rodrigo Duterte

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