Defense: ICC ordered freeze on money seized from Rodrigo Duterte during arrest

The International Criminal Court (ICC) recently ordered the freezing of money seized from former President Rodrigo Duterte when he arrived in The Hague in March last year to face trial for crimes against humanity, his legal counsel, Peter Haynes, said.

Haynes made the disclosure in a filing dated June 16, 2026, opposing the prosecution's request for access to items—including "all keys"—obtained by the ICC Registry when Duterte was transferred to the court's custody.

"Upon receipt of the defense and the Registry observations, the Trial Chamber [III] granted the prosecution's request to freeze any money that had been seized and further ordered the Registry to provide an inventory of the items obtained from Mr. Duterte upon his arrest," Haynes said.

In an earlier submission dated May 18, 2026, the defense described the prosecution's freeze request as "unnecessary."

"An order from the Trial Chamber to the Registry to freeze any money within the obtained items will have no practical impact upon the existing state of affairs. The money (if any) is in the possession of the Registry and will remain so, whether or not the Registry is subject to any order from the Trial Chamber to 'freeze' it," the defense said.

The defense also argued that the prosecution's request for access to the items in the Registry's custody was "made too late."

"Such requests are usually made within days of the arrival of the suspect in custody, or at the earliest opportunity. The prosecution had notice of the [REDACTED] in the Registry's possession on March 14, 2025. Ordinarily, it would be obliged to investigate such allegedly highly relevant material by the time of the confirmation hearing. In fact, it did not even seek to take possession of the items until after the confirmation proceedings," Haynes said.

'Fishing expedition'

While it did not oppose access to certain materials the prosecution had identified, the defense said that the request for access to "all keys" in the Registry's custody was "insufficiently substantiated and should be rejected."

"The request is, in substance, a fishing expedition," the defense said. "The prosecution advances no evidential basis connecting the keys either to the commission or furtherance of the alleged crimes or to any assets that may be relevant to the investigation."

The defense further argued that the prosecution itself acknowledged it did not know what the keys provided access to, and that this could be determined only by examining the keys.

"The basis of such a request must exist before the investigation is undertaken, not emerge as a result thereof. 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," it added.

"It is unclear to what the keys relate, or indeed whether they belong to Mr. Duterte at all, having been seized while he was traveling with members of his family. 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."

The defense also asked that, "should the prosecution's [REDACTED] produce information that is personal to Mr. Duterte or his family and which is not relevant to the investigation, the prosecution take appropriate measures to limit access thereto to the minimum number of persons."

It also requested that any such information be destroyed or permanently deleted at the earliest possible opportunity.

Finally, the defense asked Trial Chamber III to require that any additional prosecution requests for access to materials in the Registry's custody be submitted on or before June 30, 2026.

In May, Nicholas Kaufman withdrew as Duterte’s counsel, indicating that the 81-year-old expressed a desire to release him from his representation and hire another counsel. Kaufman was succeeded by Haynes.

Duterte is facing charges of crimes against humanity over alleged killings during his time as president and Davao City mayor. He is set to face trial on November 30, 2026. —KG/VBL, GMA News