Hong Kong – The former president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, was arrested on Tuesday, said the Filipino government, for an arrest warrant of the International Criminal Court amid accusations that he committed crimes against humanity during his mortal war against drugs.
Duterte, 79, who left office in 2022, was arrested at Manila International Airport after his arrival from Hong Kong.
The rights groups say that tens of thousands of unarmed suspects were killed in extrajudicial murders during Duterte’s offensive against narcotics dealers, accusations he has denied. The populist politician campaigned largely in his “War on Drugs” policy while running for a position in 2016, and defined his presidency.
Duterte, who is in custody now, has good health, said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s office in a statement on Tuesday.
Salvador Panayo, a former lawyer and spokesman for Duterte during his presidency, said in a statement that Duterte’s arrest was illegal and has no legal representation, Reuters reported.
Although the Philippines has not been a member of the International Criminal Court since he retired under Duterte in 2019, Marcos said that his government would cooperate if the International Police would seek the arrest of Duterte.
The unnoticed trip of Duterte to the Chinese territory of Hong Kong, who is not a member of the Court, had raised speculation that he could be trying to evade the arrest. But he said Sunday that he would accept the order if it was issued.
“What is my sin? I did everything in my time for peace and a peaceful life for the Philippine people, ”said Duterte, very influential in the Philippines, he told thousands of Philippine workers in a campaign contest in Hong Kong before the mid -period elections of the Philippines in May.
The demonstration also attended his daughter, the current vice president Sara Duterte, who was chosen separately from Marcos in 2022, but allied with him during the campaign.
The CPI investigation into drug -related murders since 2011, when Dutente was mayor of the southern city of Davao, to the withdrawal of the country of the Court in 2019, a measure that activists said it was an effort to avoid responsibility.
The court says he has jurisdiction in the Philippines on the crimes that were allegedly committed before his retirement from the court.
According to official government figures, more than 6,200 people died in “anti -drug operations” during the six -year period of Duterte from 2016 to 2022, almost all of them drug vendors or users who resisted the arrest during the raids.
The rights groups in the Philippines and others say that these figures do not include thousands of others who were killed by police officers, police officers or unidentified assailants, including children’s scores “that were specifically attacked or were inadvertently triggered during anti -drug reades, what the authorities have called” collateral damage “, according to human rights.
CPI prosecutors say it is estimated that 12,000 to 30,000 people were killed in relation to Duterte’s drugs from 2016 to 2019, although the precise number is “difficult to determine.”
Police have denied any participation in these additional deaths and the rejected accusations of executions and cover -ups.
Only a handful of officials in charge of enforcing the Filipino law have been convicted in relation to deaths for the war on drugs, which led the families of the victims to seek justice internationally by presenting a complaint before the ICC in 2018.
The CPI, based in The Hague, the Netherlands, is a court of last resort that processes genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity when countries are not willing or cannot do so.
The ICC suspended its investigation at the end of 2021 after the Philippines said it was already investigating the same accusations and that the ICC had no jurisdiction. The CPI appeals judges rejected that argument in July 2023, ruling that the court investigation could proceed.
In November, Philippines, whose president, Marcos, has been played with Duterte and his own vice president, Duterte’s daughter, said for the first time that she would be forced to comply if the arrest warrant for the old Duterte was issued by Interpol, an international surveillance organization of which Philippines is a member.
