ICC charges former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte with crimes against humanity
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "ICC charges former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte with crimes against humanity")
Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte Photograph: (AFP)
Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said he cracked down on drug dealers to rid the country of street crimes. In May, he was again elected mayor of Davao, despite being in prison. His son Sebastian has continued as acting mayor in his father’s stead.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has charged former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte with crimes against humanity. The 80-year-old Duterte is accused of being criminally responsible for the murders that took place as part of his alleged war on drugs, during which thousands of small-time drug dealers, users, and others were killed without trial. The ICC charge sheet includes several redactions and dates from July but was made public only on Monday. The crimes against humanity charges against Duterte allege his involvement in the killings of at least 76 people while he was president and, earlier, a southern mayor, the ICC has revealed.
The prosecutors also allege in the 15-page charge sheet that Duterte instructed and authorised “violent acts, including murder, to be committed against alleged criminals, including alleged drug dealers and users.”
The first charge cites the killings of 19 victims while Duterte was mayor of Davao City between 2013 and around 2016. The second involves 14 who died in targeted killings between 2016 and 2017 when Duterte was president. The third charge cited the killings of 43 people during so-called “clearance operations” between 2016 and 2018.
Duterte was an ‘indirect co-perpetrator’ in the killings: ICC prosecutor
ICC deputy prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang said Duterte was an “indirect co-perpetrator” in the killings, which were carried out by others, including police.
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Prosecutors said Duterte and his alleged co-perpetrators “shared a common plan or agreement to ‘neutralise’ alleged criminals in the Philippines through violent crimes, including murder”.
Duterte never offered any apologies for his brutal anti-drugs crackdown, which saw more than 6,000 people killed, although some activists believe the real figure could run into the tens of thousands.
Duterte, his lawyer, and his family did not immediately react to the detailed charges. Even when he was president, he denied authorising extrajudicial killings, although he openly threatened drug suspects with death and encouraged police to open fire if suspects violently resisted arrest and threatened law enforcers.
The Philippine authorities had arrested Duterte in March on a warrant issued by the ICC. He is now being held at an ICC facility in the Netherlands.
Duterte first Asian former head of state to be indicted by ICC
Duterte is the first Asian former head of state to be indicted by the ICC and the first suspect to be flown to The Hague in the Netherlands in over three years.
However, Duterte’s supporters criticised the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Duterte’s political rival, for arresting and surrendering the former leader to a court whose jurisdiction his supporters dispute.
The ICC effectively has no power to arrest people without the cooperation of the countries they are in, which is most often refused, and Marcos had previously dismissed the idea of cooperating with the ICC.
A court hearing had been scheduled to begin Tuesday but was postponed to give judges time to evaluate the arguments from Duterte’s attorneys that he is not fit to stand trial.
