French lawyer joins Rodrigo Duterte's ICC defense team
A French lawyer has joined the defense team of former president Rodrigo Duterte, who's facing crimes against humanity before the International Criminal Court.
In a notification dated April 7, the ICC Registry informed Pre-Trial Chamber I that Dov Jacobs will serve as associate counsel in the proceedings.
Duterte's lead counsel Nicholas Kaufman requested Jacobs's assistance on April 2 and the Registry confirmed the latter's appointment the following day.
It isn't clear yet whether more lawyers would be part of Duterte's team, but Kaufman previously said that his core team is already complete.
Jacobs was part of the defense team of former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo, who was charged with crimes against humanity but was eventually acquitted.
To date, he's also part of the defense team of the Central African Republic's former general Mahamat Said Abdel Kani, who is facing trial over charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
According to his personal website, Jacobs is an international law and international criminal law expert.
He's the founder of the firm Strategic International Legal Consulting, which has offices in Paris, London, and The Hague.
He's an assistant professor of public international law at Leiden University in the Netherlands and has taught in French universities like Sciences Po and Université de Lille.
Jacobs has published extensively in the field of international law and international criminal law, and his current research interests cover international criminal law and procedure, public international law (state responsibility), and legal theory.
He served as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Amsterdam.
He earned his law degrees from King’s College in London, Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne and Paris II Panthéon Assas.
He took political science at Sciences Po and completed his doctorate at the European University Institute in Florence.
Duterte's arrest
Duterte was arrested at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on March 11 following a warrant of arrest issued by the ICC via the International Criminal Police Organization.
He has been accused of being an "indirect co-perpetrator for the crime against humanity of murder pursuant to Article 7 (1)(a) of the Roman Statute."
Specifically, he was allegedly involved in the murder of at least 19 persons reported to be drug pushers or thieves who were killed by members of the Davao Death Squad in various locations in or around Davao City between 2011 and 2016, as well as the murder of at least 24 alleged criminals who were killed by or under the supervision of members of the Philippines law enforcement at various locations in the country between 2016 and 2019 during his term as president.
The ICC is acting based on the principle of complementarity, which means that it only steps in if a state's courts are unwilling or unable to prosecute crimes within their jurisdiction.
Though Duterte withdrew the country's membership from the ICC in 2018, which took effect the following year, the ICC said it still has jurisdiction over crimes that happened while the Philippines was still a member-state.
Duterte arrived in The Hague in the Netherlands on March 12 to face the charges against him.
He could be the first Asian former head of state to be indicted by the ICC.
His pre-trial hearing is on Sept. 23, 2025. If the charges against him are confirmed, it could be months before the case eventually goes on trial, and years before a final judgment is rendered.
