The 3 ICC judges who will try ex-president Duterte

Upgrade to High-Speed Internet for only ₱1499/month!

Enjoy up to 100 Mbps fiber broadband, perfect for browsing, streaming, and gaming.

Visit Suniway.ph to learn

April 28, 2026 | 5:14pm

MANILA, Philippines — The International Criminal Court judge who jailed a Sudanese warlord last year for war crimes will be part of the three-member panel that tries former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte for crimes against humanity.

The court on Tuesday, April 28, shared the decision by ICC President Tomoko Akane constituting Trial Chamber III and assigning the Duterte case to it. 

This order names Judge Joanna Korner of the United Kingdom, Judge Keebong Paek of South Korea, and Judge Nicolas Guillou of France.

None of the three sat on the pre-trial chamber that unanimously confirmed all three counts of crimes against humanity against Duterte on April 23, as ICC rules require a fresh bench for the full trial. 

Judge Joanna Korner: 45 years in criminal law

Korner, 74, is the most senior of the three. She has practiced criminal law for more than 45 years as a judge and barrister. She spent eight years as a senior prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, leading cases against Bosnian Serb political and military leaders accused of ethnic cleansing and mass atrocities.  

Before joining the ICC in 2021, she served as a judge of the Crown Court of England and Wales, trying the "most serious and complex criminal cases including fraud and murder," according to her profile on the ICC website.   

Her most high-profile ICC decision was rendered months ago. She chaired the trial chamber that sentenced Sudanese militia leader Ali Kushayb to 20 years in prison for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Sudan's Darfur region.

Judge Keebong Paek: prosecutor to international law scholar

Paek began his career in 1992 as a public prosecutor for South Korea. He rose through the ranks at the country's  Ministry of Justice, where he drafted the bill for South Korea's ratification of the Rome Statute — the ICC's founding treaty — and represented the country at ICC preparatory sessions. International Criminal Court

According to the ICC profile for Paek, he previously worked at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, supporting member states in implementing the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. 

His doctoral dissertation at Hanyang University focused specifically on the law of evidence in ICC proceedings.

Judge Nicolas Guillou: From Kosovo to the Hague

Guillou served as a Pre-Trial Judge at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers for four years, where he issued the arrest warrant for Salih Mustafa, a Kosovo Liberation Army commander later convicted of war crimes, according to his profile on the ICC website. 
 
Before Kosovo, he worked as Chef de Cabinet to the President of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and as a liaison prosecutor at the United States Department of Justice. 

He started his career as an investigating judge in France. 

Both Paek and Guillou were sworn in at the ICC on March 8, 2024, and are serving their first nine-year terms.  

What the chamber will do

Trial Chamber III will now receive the full case record — evidence, transcripts, and the 50-page decision confirming the charges against Duterte — and begin scheduling status conferences with the prosecution, defense, and victim representatives.

The usual timeline for a trial to start at the ICC after charges are confirmed is anywhere from six months to a year and a half. Once trial begins, Duterte will be required to appear in court. Over 500 relatives of those who died in his anti-drug war have already been granted permission to attend.  

The confirmed charges cover three counts of crimes against humanity — murder and attempted murder — committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack against civilians in the Philippines between Nov. 1, 2011 and March 16, 2019, spanning Duterte's years as Davao City mayor and later as president.