Former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte was arrested Tuesday in Manila by police acting on an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant tied to his deadly war on drugs.

Manila (AFP) – Former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte was arrested Tuesday in Manila by police acting on an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant tied to his deadly war on drugs.

The 79-year-old faces a charge of “the crime against humanity of murder”, according to the ICC, for a crackdown that rights groups estimate killed tens of thousands of mostly poor men, often without proof they were linked to drugs.

“Early in the morning, Interpol Manila received the official copy of the warrant of the arrest from the ICC,” the presidential palace said in a statement.

“As of now, he is under the custody of authorities.”

The statement added that “the former president and his group are in good health and are being checked by government doctors”.

Duterte’s former chief legal counsel, Salvador Panelo, called the arrest “unlawful”.

“The (Philippine National Police) didn’t allow one of his lawyers to meet him at the airport and to question the legal basis for PRRD’s arrest,” he said, adding a hard copy of the ICC warrant had not been provided.

But a group that worked to support mothers of those killed in Duterte’s drugs crackdown called the arrest a “very welcome development”.

“The mothers whose husbands and children were killed because of the drug war are very happy because they have been waiting for this for a very long time,” Rubilyn Litao, coordinator for Rise Up for Life and for Rights, told AFP.

Human Rights Watch, meanwhile, called on the government of President Ferdinand Marcos to “swiftly surrender (Duterte) to the ICC”, saying the arrest was a “critical step for accountability in the Philippines”.

  • OpenHammer6677@lemmy.world
    26·
    1 day ago

    Filipino here. For some of us, this is a huge step towards justice for the victims of the killings when he was in power. We can’t really expect the PHL govt to do something like this given how sketchy it is, so to some people the ICC is the only hope.

    • cows_are_underrated@feddit.org
      8·
      24 hours ago

      I have a question because the article didnt make this that clear: Did he ordered the execution of people even tho theres little to no evidence, that they were engaged I drug trades etc?

      • apt@lemmy.cafeEnglish
        10·
        23 hours ago

        Yes. They’re “extrajudicial killings”. If you were suspected of drugs, you could get shot by the police even with little evidence. Some police would abuse and do things like planting evidence. Police were also awarded bounties for killing suspects.

      • OpenHammer6677@lemmy.world
        5·
        23 hours ago

        Comment by apt is right. There have also been numerous cases where teens were killed for no reason and put under the war on drugs killings.

        These happened while he was president. But he was a long-time mayor of Davao City, where he had a death squad. I assume I don’t have to outline the implications of a mayor having his own death squad.

          • OpenHammer6677@lemmy.world
            4·
            21 hours ago

            At that point legality doesn’t really matter. This is just how “traditional” Philippine politicians are, especially the powerful dynasties in the provinces. Duterte is one of the worst, but he’s certainly not the only one here.

            So this is part of the reason why the ICC arrest is very much important to us (not everyone, since the guy has a huge following, sadly). He will never be prosecuted here. The hope is that an outside enforcer will properly prosecute and actually lock him and his cronies up for good.