Philippines ex-leader Duterte arrested on ICC warrant over drug killings

Philippine police have arrested former President Rodrigo Duterte after the Worldwide Felony Court docket (ICC) issued a warrant accusing him of crimes towards humanity over his lethal “battle on medication”.

The 79-year-old was taken into police custody shortly after his arrival at Manila airport from Hong Kong.

He has supplied no apologies for his brutal anti-drugs crackdown, which noticed 1000’s of individuals killed when he was president of the South East Asian nation from 2016 to 2022, and mayor of Davao metropolis earlier than that.

Upon his arrest, he questioned the premise for the warrant, asking: “What crime [have] I dedicated?”

Duterte’s former presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo criticised the arrest, calling it “illegal” because the Philippines withdrew from the ICC in 2019.

The ICC earlier stated that it has jurisdiction within the Philippines over alleged crimes dedicated earlier than the nation withdrew as a member.

However activists referred to as the arrest a “historic second” for many who perished in his drug battle and their households, the Worldwide Coalition for Human Rights within the Philippines (ICHRP) stated.

“The arc of the ethical universe is lengthy, however at this time, it has bent in direction of justice. Duterte’s arrest is the start of accountability for the mass killings that outlined his brutal rule,” stated ICHRP chairman Peter Murphy.

Duterte had been in Hong Kong to marketing campaign for the upcoming 12 Could mid-term elections, the place he had deliberate to run once more for mayor of Davao.

Footage aired on native tv confirmed him strolling out of the airport utilizing a cane. Authorities say he’s in “good well being” and is being cared for by authorities medical doctors.

“What’s my sin? I did all the things in my time for peace and a peaceable life for the Filipino individuals,” he instructed a cheering crowd of Filipino expatriates earlier than leaving Hong Kong.

A video posted by his daughter, Veronica Duterte, confirmed Duterte in custody in a lounge at Manila’s Villamor Air Base. In it, he may be heard questioning the rationale for his arrest.

“What’s the regulation and what’s the crime that I dedicated? I used to be introduced right here not of my very own volition, it’s someone else’s. It’s a must to reply now for the deprivation of liberty.”

Duterte’s arrest marks the “starting of a brand new chapter in Philippine historical past”, stated Filipino political scientist Richard Heydarian.

“That is about rule of regulation and human rights,” he stated.

Heydarian added that authorities had arrested Duterte promptly on the airport as an alternative of letting the matter take its course by means of the native courts to “keep away from political chaos”.

“Duterte’s supporters had been hoping they might go berserk by way of public rallies and [use] all kinds of delaying ways… [to] drag issues on till the warrant of arrest loses momentum,” he stated.

The demand for justice in Duterte’s drug battle goes “hand in hand” with the political pursuits of his successor, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, Heydarian stated.

The Duterte and Marcos households shaped a formidable alliance within the final elections in 2022, the place towards the elder Duterte’s needs, his daughter Sara ran as Marcos Jr’s vice-president as an alternative of in search of her father’s publish.

The connection unravelled publicly in current months as the 2 households pursued separate political agendas.

Marcos initially refused to co-operate with the ICC investigation, however as his relationship with the Duterte household deteriorated, he modified his stance, and later indicated that the Philippines would co-operate.

It’s not clear but whether or not Marcos would go so far as extraditing the previous president to face trial in The Hague.

Duterte served as mayor of Davao, a sprawling southern metropolis, for 22 years and has made it one of many nation’s most secure from avenue crimes.

He used the town’s peace-and-order fame to forged himself as a tough-talking anti-establishment politician to win the 2016 elections by a landslide.

With fiery rhetoric, he rallied safety forces to shoot drug suspects lifeless. Greater than 6,000 suspects had been gunned down by police or unknown assailants in the course of the marketing campaign, however rights teams say the quantity could possibly be greater.

A earlier UN report discovered that almost all victims had been younger, poor city males and that police, who don’t want search or arrest warrants to conduct home raids, systematically compelled suspects to make self-incriminating statements or danger going through deadly pressure.

Critics stated the marketing campaign focused street-level pushers and did not catch big-time drug lords. Many households additionally claimed that the victims – their sons, brothers or husbands – had been merely within the improper place on the improper time.

Investigations in parliament pointed to a shadowy “loss of life squad” of bounty hunters concentrating on drug suspects. Duterte has denied the allegations of abuse.

“Don’t query my insurance policies as a result of I provide no apologies, no excuses. I did what I needed to do, and whether or not or not you imagine it… I did it for my nation,” Duterte instructed a parliament investigation in October.

“I hate medication, make no mistake about it.”

The ICC first took be aware of the alleged abuses in 2016 and began its investigation in 2021. It lined circumstances from November 2011, when Duterte was mayor of Davao, to March 2019, earlier than the Philippines withdrew from the ICC.

Since taking energy, Marcos has scaled again Duterte’s anti-narcotics marketing campaign and promised a much less violent method to the drug downside, however a whole lot of drug-related killings have been recorded throughout his administration.

Duterte stays extensively standard within the Philippines as he’s the nation’s first chief from Mindanao, a area south of Manila, the place many really feel marginalised by the leaders within the capital.

He usually speaks in Cebuano, the regional language, not Tagalog, which is extra widely-spoken in Manila and northern areas.

When he stepped down in 2022, practically 9 in 10 Filipinos stated they had been happy along with his efficiency as president – a rating unseen amongst his predecessors because the restoration of democracy in 1986, in keeping with the Social Climate Stations analysis institute.

His populist rhetoric and blunt statements earned him the moniker “Donald Trump of the East”. He has referred to as Russian President Vladimir Putin his “idol” and underneath his administration, the Philippines’ pivoted their overseas coverage to China away from the US, its long-standing ally.

Marcos restored Manila’s ties with Washington and criticised the Duterte authorities for being “Chinese language lackeys” because the Philippines is locked in sea dispute with China.

China’s overseas ministry stated on Tuesday that it was “intently monitoring the event of the state of affairs” and warned the ICC towards “politicisation” and “double requirements” within the arrest of Duterte.

Duterte’s daughter and political inheritor, Sara Duterte, is tipped as a possible presidential candidate in 2028. The incumbent, Marcos, is barred by the structure from in search of re-election.

Further reporting by Virma Simonette in Manila and Kelly Ng in Singapore