Former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s lawyer has asked the International Criminal Court to indefinitely suspend all legal proceedings against him, citing his deteriorating health.

Duterte, 80, is “not fit to stand trial as a result of cognitive impairment in multiple domains,” his counsel Nicholas Kaufman said in a request submitted to the war crimes court on Thursday. Kaufman said the former leader’s condition will not improve so the pre-trial chamber “must adjourn all legal proceedings in his case indefinitely.”

Earlier this week, the ICC postponed a hearing set to begin on Sept 23 on the confirmation of charges against Duterte to determine whether he is well enough to go through a trial.

ALSO READ: ICC delays former Philippine president Duterte hearing on confirmation of charges

Duterte, the Southeast Asian nation’s president from 2016 to 2022, was arrested in Manila and was turned over to the ICC in The Hague in March to face charges related to his war on drugs that killed thousands. While in detention, he won in May the election for Davao City mayor, his old post before becoming president. His son, the vice-mayor, has temporarily assumed Duterte’s post.

The ex-president “suffers from significant cognitive deficiencies that affect his memory, his daily executive functioning, his visuo-constructive abilities, and his orientation to place and time while, simultaneously, limiting his capacity for complex reasoning,” Kaufman said.