A Gulfstream G550 aircraft believed to hold former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte enters a hangar after touchdown at Rotterdam The Hague Airport, following Dutertre’s arrest on an Worldwide Felony Courtroom warrant tied to his lethal crackdown on medicine, on March 12, 2025. The 79-year-old faces a cost of “the crime in opposition to humanity of homicide,” in line with the ICC, for a crackdown that rights teams estimate killed tens of hundreds of principally poor males, typically with out proof they had been linked to medicine. (Picture by JOHN THYS / AFP)
Former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte stated he was “accountable” because the Worldwide Felony Courtroom took him into custody Wednesday to face costs of crimes in opposition to humanity over his conflict on medicine.
The ICC, based mostly in The Hague, believes there are “affordable grounds” to cost Duterte with homicide as a criminal offense in opposition to humanity, as an “oblique co-perpetrator” through the anti-drug marketing campaign that rights teams estimate killed tens of hundreds.
“I’m the one who led our regulation enforcement and army. I stated that I’ll defend you and I might be accountable for all of this,” Duterte informed his nation, in a video shared on his and a detailed advisor’s Fb pages as he was about to land.
“I’ve been telling the police, the army, that it was my job and I’m accountable,” stated the 79-year-old, the primary Asian former head of state to face costs on the ICC.
The courtroom guidelines on the world’s worst crimes, together with conflict crimes, crimes in opposition to humanity and genocide.
A spokesman confirmed Duterte was in courtroom custody after he arrived in Rotterdam by non-public jet.
A car considered carrying Duterte drove into the ICC detention centre in The Hague previous a crowd of dozens of supporters, some shouting: “Carry him again” and waving nationwide flags.
“There was no due course of,” stated caregiver Duds Quibin, 50. “That is kidnapping. They simply put him on a aircraft and introduced him right here,” he informed AFP.
The middle, positioned near the North Coastline, provides every prisoner a person cell outfitted with a pc to work on their case, together with an out of doors train space.
Duterte might be held right here till an preliminary courtroom look, seemingly within the coming days.
Talking to AFP outdoors the ICC, Gilbert Andres, a lawyer representing victims of the drug conflict, stated: “My shoppers are very grateful to God as a result of their prayers have been answered.”
“The arrest of Rodrigo Duterte is a superb sign for worldwide felony justice. It signifies that nobody is above the regulation,” Andres added.
– ‘Oppression and persecution’ –
Earlier than her father’s departure, the Philippines’ Vice President Sara Duterte stated he was being “forcibly taken to The Hague,” labelling the switch “oppression and persecution.”
A one-time alliance between President Ferdinand Marcos and the Duterte household has exploded spectacularly because the 2022 presidential election, when Sara Duterte was Marcos’ operating mate.
She is at the moment dealing with a Senate trial on a lot of costs, together with corruption and an alleged assassination plot in opposition to Marcos.
Duterte himself had earlier taken to social media, claiming the Supreme Courtroom would step in and stop his switch.
At a church within the capital Manila, folks whose relations had been killed within the “drug conflict” welcomed the arrest.
“Duterte is lucky, there’s due course of for him. There was no due course of for my son” Angelito, stated Emily Soriano at a press briefing organized by a neighborhood rights group.
Duterte “might be mendacity down on an excellent mattress, my son is already rotting on the cemetery.”
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk described the arrest as “a vital step in the direction of searching for accountability for the hundreds of victims of killings.”
China, nevertheless, warned the ICC in opposition to “politicisation” and “double requirements” within the Duterte case, saying it was “carefully monitoring” it.
The high-profile case got here with the ICC at the moment underneath sanctions from Donald Trump.
The US president is sad on the courtroom issuing an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over alleged crimes dedicated through the Gaza conflict.
ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan stated the actual fact the arrest warrant had been carried out “is necessary to victims” and proof that “worldwide regulation shouldn’t be as weak as some might imagine.”
– ‘Davao Loss of life Squad’ –
The Philippines stop the ICC in 2019 on Duterte’s directions.
However the tribunal claims jurisdiction over killings as much as then, together with ones within the southern metropolis of Davao when Duterte was mayor.
The ICC stated in its arrest warrant there have been “affordable grounds to consider” at the very least 19 folks had been murdered within the metropolis by members of the “Davao Loss of life Squad,” headed by Duterte.
Moreover, at the very least 24 folks had been killed by Philippines police in numerous areas, judges consider.
On Sunday, Duterte lashed out, labelling ICC investigators “sons of whores” whereas saying he would “settle for” an arrest.
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Duterte remains to be massively widespread amongst many who supported his quick-fix options to crime, and he stays a potent political pressure.
