(Reading of the charges by the Courtroom officer during the Confirmation of Charges hearing at the International Criminal Court on 23 February 2026)
The Prosecution charges Mr. Rodrigo Roa Duterte with two counts of murder and one count of murder and attempted murder as crimes against humanity committed between 2013 and around June 2016 and between around July 2016 and September 2018 in the Republic of the Philippines as follows.
Count 1. Murder of 19 victims alleged to be criminals, including three children, who were killed in or around Davao City in the Philippines between 2013 and around 2016 by members of the Davao Death Squad, while Mr. Duterte was the mayor of the Davao City pursuant to Article 718 of the Rome Statute.
Count 2. Murder of 14 victims labelled as high-value targets for their alleged criminality, who were killed in locations across the Philippines between around July 2016 and July 2017 by a network of perpetrators comprising state actors and others, referred to as the National Network, while Mr. Duterte was the president of the Philippines pursuant to Article 718 of the Rome Statute.
Count 3. Murder and attempted murder of 45 victims comprising 43 murders and two attempted murders of persons alleged to be criminals, including three children, who were targeted in barangay clearance operations in locations across the Philippines between around July 2016 and September 2018 by members of the National Network, while Mr. Duterte was the President of the Philippines pursuant to Articles 718 and 253F in respect of the attempted murder, of the Rome Statute.
The prosecution alleges that Mr. Duterte is individually criminally responsible for all three of the above counts as follows.
First, as an indirect co-perpetrator pursuant to Article 253A of the Rome Statute, at least between 1 November 2011 and 16 March 2019, Mr. Duterte and his co-perpetrators shared a common plan to neutralize alleged criminals in the Philippines, including individuals perceived or alleged to be associated with drug use, sale, or production, through violent crimes including murder.
Mr. Duterte and his co-perpetrators implemented this common plan through the hierarchically organized structures of the Davao City Police and Davao Death Squad, and then the National Network. Within the framework of the Common Plan, Mr. Duterte made essential contributions to the crimes in Counts 1, 2, 3 by
a. designing and disseminating the police to neutralise alleged criminals, both in his role as a mayor of the Davao City and also during his presidential campaign and as a president, including by endorsing the anti-illegal drugs campaign Double Barrel.
b. establishing and overseeing the DDS.
c. instructing and authorising violent acts, including murder, to be committed against alleged criminals, including alleged drug dealers and users.
d. providing personnel and other necessary logistic resources, such as weapons, including those to be used in the execution of the crimes.
e. appointing key personnel to positions which were crucial to the execution of the crimes.
f. offering financial incentives and promotions to police officers and hitmen to kill alleged criminals. g. creating and maintaining a system in which perpetrators knew they would be protected, including through promises of immunity and shielding perpetrators from investigation and prosecutions.
h. making public statements authorising, condoning, and encouraging killings of alleged criminals, both as a mayor of the Davao City and as a president of the Philippines.
i. authorising state actors to take part in the anti-drugs campaign and temporarily revoking such authorisation, including to placate public outcry.
j. publicly naming individuals and holding up charts from lists of alleged criminals, including so-called high-value targets, some of whom were subsequently killed.
ii. in the alternative, Mr. Duterte is charged with ordering and or inducing the charged crimes pursuant to Article 25.3.B of the Rome Statute and or aiding and abetting these crimes pursuant to Article 25.3.C of the Rome Statute.
Document Containing the Charges
