Lawyers of former President Rodrigo Duterte filed an appeal before the International Criminal Court, asserting that there is no legal basis for the continuation of the proceedings against Duterte and demanding his immediate release. 

In a 21-page Appeal Brief dated November 14, 2025, the Defense has asked the Appeals Chamber to reverse the Pre-Trial Chamber I’s (PTC) October 23, 2025  decision on the jurisdiction of the court. 

Duterte’s lawyers Nicholas Kaufman and Dr Dov Jacobs claimed that the PTC erred by classifying Article 127(2) of the Rome Statute as lex specialis, in relation to Article 12. 

The principle of lex specialis, which means “a more specific rule prevails over a general one,” is typically employed to resolve normative conflicts between two different legal rules. For the lex specialis principle to apply, two preconditions must generally be met: 1) the two legal provisions must relate to the “same subject matter, and, 2) there must be an actual inconsistency between the provisions, or a clear conflict or need to clarify the two provisions

According to the Defense, lex specialis cannot be applied because Articles 127 (2) and Article 12 deal with entirely different concepts. Article 12(2) concerns preconditions for exercising jurisdiction, while Article 127(2) provides for the preservation of pre-existing obligations beyond the withdrawal date. 

The Defense further claimed that the two provisions are perfectly compatible. Article 12 is self-contained and already provides a path (Article 12(3) for the Prosecutor to seek consent from a Non-State Party if the preconditions are not met post-withdrawal. 

The Defense also argued that a preliminary examination, which began on February 8, 2018, almost a year before the Philippines withdrew from the Rome Statute, is not a “matter under consideration” by the Court. Duterte lawyers maintained that jurisdiction is only engaged once a PTC formally authorizes an investigation. The formal investigation in this particular case commenced on September 15, 2021.

The Defense also claimed the ‘Court’ does not include the Office of the Prosecutor for the purposes of Article 127(2) of the Rome Statute.

In its October 23, 2025 decision, the PTC held that the interpretation of Article 127, which outlines the withdrawal of a State Party from the Rome Statute, must be consistent with the overall object and purpose of the Statute—to “put an end to impunity and ensure that the most serious crimes do not go unpunished.”

The Chamber noted a “direct relationship” between the Prosecutor’s announcement of the preliminary examination (February 8, 2018) and the Philippines’ notification of withdrawal (March 17, 2018). The PTC said that such an attempt to avoid compliance is what Article 127, read as a whole, is designed to prevent. 

Disclosure: The author used LM Notebook, an AI tool, to understand and simplify legal terms.