Former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte appears in court in The Hague

THE HAGUE, Netherlands, Sept 16, (AP): Former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, who is facing charges of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court, made his first public appearance in more than a year on Wednesday, when he attended a pre-trial hearing at the court in The Hague.

The 81-year old is accused of murder and attempted murder for his alleged involvement in dozens of killings as part of his so-called war on drugs while in office, first as the mayor of a southern city in the Philippines and later as president.

He denies the charges against him. He has missed a series of hearings since his arrest in 2025. Medical reasons were cited for his absence but the court’s judges ruled in January that he was healthy enough to stand trial.

The presiding judge in his case told Duterte’s legal team during an earlier hearing that she wanted the ex-leader to attend Wednesday’s session. "We would expect Mr. Duterte to be here unless there’s some medical issue,” Judge Joanna Korner said during the June pre-trial hearing.

Wednesday's hearing is to discuss evidence disclosure and come up with a timetable for the trial, which is due to open in November. Duterte was arrested in March 2025 and was set to appear in court in The Hague in September last year.

However, the hearing was delayed after a pretrial panel of judges granted a "limited postponement” to give the court time to determine whether Duterte was fit enough to take part in the proceedings.

Following an assessment by a panel of medical experts, judges ruled that Duterte is "fit to take part in the pretrial proceedings.” The ICC has been looking into mass killings in crackdowns overseen by Duterte since 2018.

Estimates of the death toll during Duterte’s presidential term vary, from the more than 6,000 that the national police have reported up to 30,000 claimed by human rights groups.

According to the prosecutors, police and government hit squads carried out dozens of killings at Duterte’s orders, motivated by the promise of money or to avoid becoming targets themselves.

A month after the court in February 2018 announced a preliminary investigation into the violent drug crackdowns, Duterte said the Philippines would withdraw from the ICC.