THE Hague – A judge at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has voluntarily recused herself from deliberating on a disqualification request filed by former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s legal team, while two other judges formally rejected the attempt to bar them from the case.
In a memorandum made public Wednesday, ICC Judge Beit Hohler requested to be excused from participating in the disqualification proceedings, citing a potential “appearance of bias” due to her prior role as a prosecutor involved in the Philippines investigation.
Hohler served as a trial lawyer in the Office of the Prosecutor from 2019 to 2022, during the initial probe into Duterte’s controversial anti-drug campaign.
The ICC’s ad hoc Presidency, composed of Judges Tomoko Akane, Rosario Salvatore Aitala, and Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza, granted the recusal, underscoring that Hohler’s earlier involvement in the case raised legitimate questions about her impartiality, in line with Article 41 of the ICC Statute.
Meanwhile, Judges Reine Adélaïde Sophie Alapini-Gansou and María del Socorro Flores Liera issued a firm rebuttal to the disqualification motion filed on May 9.
In their joint response dated May 22, the two judges defended their objectivity, arguing that Duterte’s defense failed to present any legal grounds for their removal.
The disqualification request alleges that the judges had already taken positions on jurisdictional matters through previous rulings in 2021 and 2023, thus compromising their neutrality in deciding whether the court retains authority over the Duterte case.
“The arguments do not establish any personal bias or predetermined opinion that would impair our judicial function,” the judges said, asserting that prior involvement in procedural rulings does not disqualify them from further judicial assessment.
The legal dispute centers on the ICC’s continuing investigation into alleged crimes against humanity committed during Duterte’s bloody “war on drugs,” a campaign that human rights groups say resulted in thousands of extrajudicial killings.
Although the Philippines formally withdrew from the Rome Statute in 2019, the ICC maintains jurisdiction over crimes committed while the country was still a member.
The Pre-Trial Chamber must first determine whether it has jurisdiction in the case — a decision that is pivotal to the continuation of the proceedings.
A ruling in favor of the disqualification could stall or significantly delay the investigation, necessitating the appointment of new judges.
The ICC’s full Plenary of Judges, minus those directly involved, is now tasked with deciding whether to uphold or reject the disqualification bid — a procedural step with significant implications for one of the Court’s most politically sensitive cases to date.