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

Philippine police have arrested former President Rodrigo Duterte after the Worldwide Legal Courtroom (ICC) issued a warrant accusing him of crimes towards humanity over his lethal “struggle on medicine”.

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 hundreds 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 mentioned that it has jurisdiction within the Philippines over alleged crimes dedicated earlier than the nation withdrew as a member.

However activists known as the arrest a “historic second” for individuals who perished in his drug struggle and their households, the Worldwide Coalition for Human Rights within the Philippines (ICHRP) mentioned.

“The arc of the ethical universe is lengthy, however at the moment, it has bent in the direction of justice. Duterte’s arrest is the start of accountability for the mass killings that outlined his brutal rule,” mentioned 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 docs.

“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 might be heard questioning the rationale for his arrest.

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

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

“That is about rule of legislation and human rights,” he mentioned.

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 have been hoping they may go berserk when it comes to public rallies and [use] all kinds of delaying ways… [to] drag issues on till the warrant of arrest loses momentum,” he mentioned.

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

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 looking for her father’s submit.

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 road crimes.

He used town’s peace-and-order repute to solid 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 useless. Greater than 6,000 suspects have been gunned down by police or unknown assailants through the marketing campaign, however rights teams say the quantity may very well be increased.

A earlier UN report discovered that almost all victims have 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 dealing with deadly pressure.

Critics mentioned 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 – have been merely within the incorrect place on the incorrect time.

Investigations in parliament pointed to a shadowy “loss of life squad” of bounty hunters focusing 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 consider it… I did it for my nation,” Duterte instructed a parliament investigation in October.

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

The ICC first took be aware of the alleged abuses in 2016 and began its investigation in 2021. It coated instances 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 hundreds of drug-related killings have been recorded throughout his administration.

Duterte stays broadly widespread 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 mentioned they have been happy along with his efficiency as president – a rating unseen amongst his predecessors for the reason that restoration of democracy in 1986, in line with the Social Climate Stations analysis institute.

His populist rhetoric and blunt statements earned him the moniker “Donald Trump of the East”. He has known as Russian President Vladimir Putin his “idol” and beneath his administration, the Philippines’ pivoted their international 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 international ministry mentioned on Tuesday that it was “carefully 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 looking for re-election.

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