Duterte extradited to The Hague to face charges of crimes against humanity

Singapore: Former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte has been arrested and flown to The Hague at the request of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to answer for his alleged role in the country’s “war on drugs”, which human rights groups say led to the summary executions of thousands of people.

Duterte, 79, was met by authorities at Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport on Tuesday on his return from Hong Kong, where he had been speaking at a campaign rally for expat Filipinos.

Duterte withdrew the Philippines from the Rome Statute in 2019 in a move human rights activists say was aimed at escaping accountability.Credit: AP

The ICC alleges he committed crimes against humanity from the time the Philippines became a party to the Rome Statute in 2011, when he was still mayor of the southern city of Davao, until he withdrew the Philippines from the statute in 2019 as president. The statute sets out the court’s jurisdiction over genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, and Duterte’s decision to withdraw was seen by critics as an attempt to escape accountability.

The maverick leader came to power in 2016 with firebrand speeches and a promise to be tough on drugs. But his signature policy drew widespread criticism for allegedly sanctioning police and vigilante brutality.

Duterte once claimed he had personally killed suspected criminals while mayor of Davao.

In 2020, two years before the more Western-aligned Ferdinand Marcos Jr replaced him as president, the UN Human Rights Council reported that at least 8663 people had been killed in Duterte’s campaign, while noting that some estimates were triple that number.

“There has been near impunity for these killings,” the report said. “People who use or sell drugs do not lose their human rights.”

The ICC opened its investigation in September 2021.

Video obtained by GMA News in the Philippines showed a defiant Duterte speaking with arresting officers who had boarded his plane after it landed in Manila.

“You will just have to kill me,” Duterte said. “I will not allow it, you would be allies with the whites [Westerners].

In a late-night press conference, Marcos Jr announced Duterte’s Netherlands-bound flight had taken off from Manila, “allowing the former president to face charges of crimes against humanity in relation to his bloody war on drugs.” The ICC is based in The Hague, Netherlands.

“Mr Duterte was arrested in compliance with our commitments to Interpol … which we have to fulfil,” he said. “If we don’t do that they will no longer help us with other cases involving Philippine fugitives abroad. This is what the international community expects of us.”

Duterte’s lawyer said the arrest was unlawful, in part because the ICC no longer had jurisdiction in the Philippines. The court believes it has jurisdiction for the years the nation was party to the statute.

Supporters of former president Rodrigo Duterte gather outside Villamor Airbase, where Duterte was taken following his arrest on an ICC warrant.Credit: Getty Images

Duterte’s arrest further stokes the incendiary political atmosphere in the Philippines heading into the May midterm elections.

Marcos Jr came to power with Duterte’s daughter, Sara Duterte, as his running mate, the pairing uniting the Philippines’ most powerful political families. In November last year, Marcos Jr said the country would not co-operate with the ICC investigation unless Duterte himself requested it do so. The Philippines would still fulfil its obligations to Interpol, he said.

The relationship between Marcos Jr and Sara Duterte was crashing spectacularly at the time. Later in November, she sensationally said she had contracted an assassin to kill the president and others if she were killed herself, remarks for which she was impeached by the lower house. The Senate will preside over her trial this year.

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