Philippine ex-President Duterte set to appear in Hague courtroom to face ‘war on drugs’ charges

Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is scheduled to make his first appearance before judges of the International Criminal Court on Friday, days after his stunning arrest in Manila on murder charges linked to the deadly “ war on drugs ” he oversaw while in office.

The 79-year-old Duterte, the first Asian former leader arrested on an ICC warrant, will be read his rights and formally informed of the charges of crimes against humanity that the court’s prosecutors filed against him after a lengthy investigation.

Estimates of the death toll during Duterte’s presidential term vary, from the more than 6,000 that the national police have reported up to the 30,000 claimed by human rights groups.

The court will also seek to set a date for a key pre-trial hearing — likely months from now — at which judges will assess whether there is enough evidence to proceed to a full trial, which could take years. If Duterte is convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

Duterte was arrested Tuesday amid chaotic scenes in the Philippine capital after returning from a visit to Hong Kong. He was swiftly put on a chartered jet and flown to the Netherlands. After a series of medical checks on arrival, he was taken to the court’s detention center, located behind the high brick walls of a Dutch prison complex close to the North Sea coastline.

Prosecutors accuse him of involvement as an “indirect co-perpetrator” in multiple murders, amounting to a crime against humanity for allegedly overseeing killings from November 2011 until March 2019, first while he was mayor of the southern city of Davao and later as president of the Philippines.

Duterte will not be required to formally enter a plea at Friday’s hearing.

According to the prosecution request for his arrest, as Davao mayor Duterte issued orders to police and other “hitmen” who formed so-called “Davao Death Squads” or DDS.

He told them “that their mission was to kill criminals, including drug dealers, and provided clearance for specific DDS killings,” prosecutors allege, adding that he recruited, paid and rewarded the killers and “provided them with the necessary weapons and resources, and promised to shield them from prosecution.”

The document seeking an ICC warrant for Duterte said that prosecutors built their case using evidence including witness testimony, speeches by Duterte himself, government documents and video footage.

Human rights groups and victims’ families have hailed Duterte’s arrest as a historic triumph against state impunity, while the former president’s supporters have slammed what they call the government’s surrender of a rival to a court whose jurisdiction they dispute.

“We are happy and we feel relieved,” said 55-year-old Melinda Abion Lafuente, mother of 22-year-old Angelo Lafuente, who she said was tortured and killed in 2016.

“Duterte’s appearance before the ICC is a testament to the courage and determination of the victims, their families, and Filipino activists and journalists to pursue justice no matter how long it takes,” said Bryony Lau, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Other leaders facing ICC arrest warrants, like Vladimir Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu, should take note that even those who seem untouchable today can end up in The Hague.”

Duterte’s legal team said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s administration should not have allowed the global court to take custody of the former leader because the Philippines is no longer a party to the ICC.

“Our own government has surrendered a Filipino citizen — even a former president at that — to foreign powers,” Vice President Sara Duterte, the ex-president’s daughter and a political rival of the current president, said Tuesday before her father was flown out of Manila.

Judges who approved Duterte’s arrest warrant said the court has jurisdiction because the crimes alleged in the warrant were committed before Duterte withdrew the Philippines from the court in 2019.

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Joe Gomez, Joeal Calupitan and Aaron Favila in Manila contributed to this report.