On 28 November 2025, the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court delivered its judgment in open session, rejecting the appeal filed by Mr. Rodrigo Roa Duterte and confirming the Pre-Trial Chamber I decision of 26 September 2025 denying his request for interim release. Mr. Duterte, who waived his right to be present during the hearing, remains in ICC custody.
On 26 September 2025, the Pre-Trial Chamber rejected the Defence’s request for interim release, finding that Mr. Duterte’s detention remained necessary under article 58(1)(b) of the Rome Statute. The Chamber concluded that the proposed conditions for release were insufficient to mitigate the identified risks and further dismissed the Defence’s claim that he should be released on humanitarian grounds.
In his appeal, the Defence raised three grounds:
- That the Pre-Trial Chamber erred in finding that Mr. Duterte posed a risk within the meaning of article 58(1)(b);
- That it wrongly dismissed the guarantees offered by the State willing to receive him; and
- That it erred in law by failing to give weight to humanitarian considerations in assessing his right to interim release.
The Appeals Chamber—composed of Judge Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza (Presiding), Judge Tomoko Akane, Judge Solomy Balungi Bossa, Judge Gocha Lordkipanidze, and Judge Erdenebalsuren Damdin—rejected all three grounds of appeal. It held that the Pre-Trial Chamber had conducted a thorough and comprehensive assessment of the information before it regarding the risks under article 58(1)(b). After examining the Defence’s arguments, the Appeals Chamber found no errors in the Chamber’s reasoning and determined that its conclusions were neither unreasonable nor unsupported.
The Appeals Chamber unanimously confirmed the Pre-Trial Chamber’s decision of 26 September 2025.
