MANILA, Philippines — Former President Rodrigo Duterte’s defense team is considering an artificial intelligence (AI) tool to help review the massive volume of evidence in his International Criminal Court (ICC) case, but lead counsel Peter Haynes said the service could cost nearly €500,000.
Haynes raised the possibility Wednesday during the third status conference of ICC Trial Chamber III, as he criticized the prosecution’s disclosure of evidence and described it as “unworkable” and a “terrible mess.”
The prosecution has disclosed about 62,500 exhibits through the ICC Registry, according to Haynes. He said the material includes around 324,000 pages of documents and more than 1,000 video and audio files totaling thousands of hours.
The defense has until Oct. 30 to submit its brief.
Haynes said the defense considered using AI to sift through the evidence because of the volume and the limited time available for review.
He also proposed that the chamber order the prosecution to open a new case file containing a smaller exhibit list of about 10,000 documents that prosecutors had actually read and reviewed.
“It’s the only solution that we can suggest given the current state of the case, which is a mess,” Haynes said.
Defense challenges prosecution disclosure
Haynes claimed the prosecution had held a significant portion of the evidence since November 2021 but had not read or triaged it, which he said should have happened before disclosure.
He said the defense first learned about a large batch of evidence on July 15, about six weeks before the disclosure deadline.
Haynes also claimed that hundreds of documents appeared in the evidence list page by page, while the defense received tables of contents without the corresponding documents.
He said the defense would have preferred a six-month delay to allow the parties to restart the disclosure process if Duterte were younger and healthier.
Prosecutor disputes defense account
Prosecutor Julian Nicholls rejected Haynes’ characterization of the evidence disclosure.
Nicholls said the defense had exaggerated the situation and that Haynes’ account was not entirely accurate. He acknowledged that some duplicate documents might exist but said the disclosure remained different from the picture presented by the defense.
Presiding Judge Joanna Korner said the examples presented by Haynes did not give the chamber much confidence in the current state of the disclosure.
Korner ordered both sides to submit their complaints and responses in writing. She also encouraged the parties to resolve the issues among themselves without involving the chamber if possible.
The defense has seven days to submit its complaints and proposals, while the prosecution will have another seven days to respond.
Duterte’s trial is scheduled to start Nov. 30. The former president faces three counts of crimes against humanity linked to his administration’s war on drugs.
