Manila, Philippines – Former Philippin President Rodrigo Duterte was arrested on Tuesday at Manila International International Airport from the International Criminal Court in the context of a crime against humanity filed against him, the Philippin government said.
Duterte was arrested after his arrival from Hong Kong and the police placed him in police custody on the CPI orders, which investigated the The mass killings that occurred under the deadly repression of the former president against illegal drugsSaid President Ferdinand Marcos’ office in a statement.
“Upon his arrival, the Attorney General served the notification of the ICC for an arrest warrant for the former president for crime against humanity,” said the government. “He is now under the care of the authorities.”
The surprise arrest launched an agitation at the airport when lawyers and Duterte aid protested loudly as they, as well as a doctor and lawyers, were prevented from getting closer to him after being placed in police custody. “This is a violation of his constitutional right,” the journalists the Senator Bong Go, a close ally of Duterte, told journalists.
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The arrest warrant sent by the ICC to Filipino officials, a copy of which was seen by the AP, said: “There are reasonable reasons to believe that” the attack on the victims “was both widespread and systematic: the attack took place over a period of several years and thousands of people seem to have been killed.”
Duterte’s arrest was necessary “to guarantee his appearance before the court”, according to the mandate of March 7, adding that the former president was to ignore a judicial assignment.
He said that although Duterte is no longer president, he “seems to continue to exercise considerable power”.
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“Aware of the risk that results from interference with the investigations and the security of witnesses and victims, the Chamber is convinced that Mr. Duterte’s arrest is necessary,” he said.
A photo published by his political party said he was detained at Villamor air base next to Manila airport, Agence France-Press reported.
The government said Duterte was healthy.
Relatives of the victims of Duterte’s drug kills react
The arrest and the fall of Duterte amazed the families of the victims of her bloody repression against illegal drugs and pushed them to tears.
“This is a big day long awaited for justice,” Police Randy Delos Santos told the uncle of a teenager killed by police during an anti-drug operation in August 2017 in the Metropolis of Manila.
“Now we think justice is driving. We hope that the best police officers and hundreds of police officers who have been involved in illegal murders should also be placed in detention and punished,” said Delos Santos.
Three of the police officers who killed his nephew, Kian Delos Santos, were sentenced in 2018 for the very publicized murder, which encouraged Duterte at the time to temporarily suspend his brutal anti-drug repression.
The conviction was one of the three at least three, so far, against the staff of the police involved in the anti-drug campaign, reflecting the concerns of the families of the victims of alleged extrajudicial murders according to which they would not obtain justice in the Philippines, which led to their decision to ask for help from the ICC.
Long history of drug killings under Duterte
The ICC investigated the drug murders under Duterte from November 1, 2011, when he was still mayor of the southern city of Davao, until March 16, 2019, as possible crimes against humanity. In 2019, Duterte withdrew the Philippines from the status of Rome in a move from human rights activists, according to him, aimed to escape responsibility.
The administration of Duterte decided to suspend the investigation of the World Court at the end of 2021 by noting that the Philippine authorities already examined the same allegations, arguing that the ICC – a court of last appeal – did not have jurisdiction.
The CPI appeal judges judged in 2023 that the investigation could resume and reject the objections of the Duterte administration. Based in The Hague, the Netherlands, the ICC can intervene when countries are not willing or unable to continue suspects in the most heinous international crimes, including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who succeeded Duterte in 2022 and broke into a bitter political dispute with the former president, decided not to join the World Court. But the Marcos administration said it would cooperate if the ICC asked the international police to get into police custody by an alleged red notice, a request for law enforcement organizations worldwide to locate and temporarily stop a criminal suspect.
