Peter Haynes, behind rare ICC acquittal, is Duterte's new lead counsel

MANILA, Philippines — Former President Rodrigo Duterte has hired British barrister Peter Haynes — the lawyer who secured a Congo leader's surprise 2018 acquittal at the International Criminal Court — as his new lead counsel for the trial phase of his crimes against humanity case. 

Haynes replaces Nicholas Kaufman, whose one-year contract to represent Duterte ended March 31, 2026, according to a withdrawal request Kaufman filed with Trial Chamber III on May 8.

The document was originally filed as confidential but reclassified as public on Tuesday, May 12, after the chamber ordered it unredacted.

Duterte personally released Kaufman from his representation during a visit by the defense team to the ICC detention center in The Hague on May 7 and named Haynes as his preferred replacement, the filing states.

Haynes — whose name Kaufman redacted in the filing — confirmed he is "ready, willing and able to assume immediate representation" and will attend the status conference set for May 27, according to Kaufman.

A defense barrister with a rare ICC acquittal on his record

Haynes brings to the Duterte defense one of the few full acquittals ever secured at the ICC.

He served as lead counsel for Jean-Pierre Bemba, the former vice president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, from 2010 to 2018, when the ICC Appeals Chamber overturned Bemba's conviction for war crimes and crimes against humanity in 2018. That conviction was unanimously decided two years before.  

The appeals court, in a 3-2 decision, ruled that the trial court had misjudged Bemba's responsibility as a remote commander over troops deployed abroad and had convicted him for acts outside the original charges.

Following his 2018 acquittal on appeal, he was released from detention.

The Bemba appeal overturned the only ICC conviction for rape as a war crime and as a crime against humanity in the court's history at the time, per the Coalition for the ICC.

Veteran lawyer

A King's Counsel of St Philips Chambers in Birmingham, Haynes has more than 30 years of experience and is among the very few lawyers to have led cases at the ICC, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

He served two terms as president of the International Criminal Court Bar Association beginning in 2019, the first person re-elected to the post.

In 2024, the ICC appointed Haynes to represent Lord's Resistance Army commander Joseph Kony in the court's first-ever confirmation of charges hearing conducted in the absence of the accused.

Kaufman, in his withdrawal request, said he was "convinced that the continuity and efficacy of Mr Duterte's representation will remain assured through Mr Haynes," citing the new counsel's "wealth of experience at the International Criminal Court" and the existing defense team that will stay on.

Counsel change comes weeks after charges confirmed

The overhaul of Duterte's legal team comes weeks after the Pre-Trial Chamber I, on April 23, unanimously confirmed all three counts of crimes against humanity against the former president and committed him to trial.

Judges found substantial grounds to believe Duterte played a key role in the murder of 76 people and the attempted murder of two others during his "war on drugs."

Trial Chamber III — composed of Presiding Judge Joanna Korner, Judge Keebong Paek, and Judge Nicolas Guillou — will set the trial commencement date after the May 27 status conference.

Police data put the death toll from Duterte's anti-drug campaign at around 6,000; human rights groups estimate as many as 30,000 were killed.