THE OFFICE of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has formally removed a specific event designated as “Incident 57” from its updated trial brief against former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte.
The modification follows a ruling by ICC Trial Chamber III—composed of Presiding Judge Joanna Korner, Judge Keebong Paek, and Judge Nicolas Guillou—which determined that Incident 57 fell outside the designated timeframe of July 2016 to July 2017 covered under Count 2 for high-value drug target killings.
According to a public redacted filing dated Oct. 20, 2026, signed by Acting Prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang, the Prosecution updated its Sept. 4 trial brief by removing references to Incident 57 and replacing them with “[DELETED]” to maintain proper document cross-referencing.
Despite deleting the specific incident from the formal charge list, ICC prosecutors affirmed that no amendments were made to their official witness or evidence lists.
The Prosecution explained that evidence and testimony connected to Incident 57 remain directly relevant to establishing the broader contextual elements of crimes against humanity and proving Mr. Duterte’s individual criminal responsibility.
While Incident 57 was excluded on temporal grounds, seven other newly added incidents remain part of the Prosecution’s case brief.
The ICC continues its judicial proceedings regarding the situation in the Philippines concerning alleged crimes against humanity linked to the former administration’s anti-illegal drugs campaign.
