Lawyer: Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte suffers from severe cognitive deficits

The lawyer of former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who is detained in The Hague, said that he suffers from severe cognitive deficits that affect his memory and daily functions.

Reuters reported that the International Criminal Court released details of the defense request on August 18 on Thursday (September 11). Lawyers said that Duterte had cognitive deficits, which affected his executive function, orientation and complex reasoning ability.

Duterte, now 80 years old, was arrested in March and taken to The Hague. He was accused of launching an anti-drug campaign during his tenure as the mayor of Davao City and president in the Philippines, which led to the deaths of thousands of people and committed crimes against humanity.

Since then, his lawyer has been arguing that he is not fit for trial.

Earlier this week, the judge postponed the hearing originally scheduled for later this month to first address the defense request regarding his suitability for trial.

It is relatively rare for the International Court of Justice to rule that a defendant is completely unfit for trial, even for elderly defendants. If a suspect is declared unfit for trial, they may not be automatically released.

Similar cases include the 2023 UN War Crimes Tribunal's ruling that Felicien Kabuga, an elderly Rwandan genocide suspect, was unfit for trial due to dementia. However, as no country was willing to accept his temporary release, he remained detained at the UN detention unit in The Hague.