Rodrigo Duterte suffering 'significant memory impairment'

Former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte is suffering from major memory loss that he sometimes forgets his lawyer's name, according to the defence team preparing his case at the International Criminal Court.



The 81-year-old Duterte faces charges of crimes against humanity at the ICC over his so-called "war on drugs" during which thousands were killed.



His trial is scheduled to start on Nov 30, but judges are weighing whether he is mentally fit to be tried and have ordered a medical assessment by three experts.



Duterte "suffers from significant memory impairment that prevents him from retaining recent information and reliably accessing memories", according to the 13-page defence submission.





This makes it impossible to engage with the case "let alone give proper instructions to his Lead Counsel, whose name he only sometimes remembers", said his chief defence lawyer, Peter Haynes.



Haynes said he was being forced to prepare the case without meaningful input from his client.



The defence cited some results from the examinations which they said showed Duterte thinks he is living in 2007 or 2008, that he is 84 or 85 years old, and could not recall the name of the current US president.



Haynes said in his submission that these lapses in memory make it impossible for his lawyers to prepare his defence, as they cannot rely even on what he tells them.



Such mental impairment would also affect any potential defence in the courtroom, the defence lawyer said.