Rodrigo Duterte, the previous president of the Philippines, was arrested on Tuesday in Manila, after the Worldwide Felony Courtroom issued a warrant accusing him of crimes towards humanity in his battle on medicine by which, human rights teams say, tens of hundreds of Filipinos had been summarily executed.
He was taken into custody on the airport in Manila after coming back from a visit to Hong Kong, in line with the Philippine authorities. Mr. Duterte’s lawyer, Salvador Panelo, mentioned the arrest was illegal, partly as a result of the Philippines withdrew from the court docket whereas Mr. Duterte was in workplace.
Mr. Duterte, 79, who left workplace in 2022, is a populist firebrand who stays one of many Philippines’ most influential politicians, and he has loved relative immunity regardless of a number of accusations towards him in connection along with his antidrug marketing campaign.
However Mr. Duterte’s arrest might be a serious step towards accountability for hundreds of Filipinos who’ve lengthy sought justice for his or her family members, lots of whom had been gunned down by law enforcement officials, hit men and vigilantes. Activists say the vast majority of victims had been poor, city Filipinos, a few of whom had been minors and individuals who had nothing to do with the drug commerce.
Solely a handful of individuals have been convicted in reference to the killings, which rights teams say totaled roughly 30,000.
“I’m very blissful that Duterte has been arrested so we are able to lastly have justice,” mentioned Cristina Jumola, whose three sons had been killed in the course of the drug battle. “We waited so lengthy for this.”
It was unclear whether or not Mr. Duterte could be pressured to give up to the I.C.C., which relies in The Hague. The case shall be a high-profile check of the court docket, which in current months has sought the arrest of Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the pinnacle of the army junta in Myanmar, Min Aung Hlaing, accusing each males of crimes towards humanity.
Minutes earlier than he was arrested, Mr. Duterte was characteristically defiant.
“You would need to kill me first, if you will ally with white foreigners,” Mr. Duterte mentioned as he was getting off the aircraft from Hong Kong, in line with a video posted by GMA News, a Philippine broadcaster.
For years, Mr. Duterte appeared untouchable. As mayor of Davao, the second-largest metropolis within the Philippines, for greater than 20 years, he ran a lethal antidrug crackdown with impunity. In 2016, he parlayed his law-and-order credentials right into a victory within the presidential election, although specialists mentioned the nation didn’t have an outsized drawback with medicine.
At his closing marketing campaign rally that yr, Mr. Duterte advised the gang to “neglect the legal guidelines on human rights.”
“You drug pushers, holdup males and do-nothings, you higher exit,” he mentioned. “As a result of I’ll kill you.” He mentioned he would give himself and his safety forces immunity from prosecution and pardon himself “for the crime of a number of homicide.”
Whereas in workplace, Mr. Duterte withdrew the Philippines from the I.C.C., which had begun trying into the extrajudicial killings.
Mr. Panelo, Mr. Duterte’s lawyer, mentioned the arrest was illegal partially as a result of the Philippine police had not allowed the previous president’s attorneys to satisfy him on the airport. He mentioned he deliberate to convey legal complaints towards the police and the officers who ordered the arrest.
He added that the arrest was unlawful as a result of the arrest warrant “comes from a spurious supply, the I.C.C., which has no jurisdiction over the Philippines.”
However the Philippines remains to be a member of Interpol, which may search the arrest of Mr. Duterte on behalf of the I.C.C. A consultant of Interpol was current when Mr. Duterte was arrested.
When Mr. Duterte’s single, six-year time period resulted in 2022, his administration mentioned that 6,252 folks had been killed by safety forces — all described by officers as “drug suspects.”
Mr. Duterte had appeared to enjoy impunity even beneath his successor, Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. The son of the late dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos, he rose to the presidency after forming a political alliance with Mr. Duterte’s daughter Sara, who was elected as his vp. Early in his administration, Mr. Marcos indicated that he wouldn’t cooperate with the I.C.C.
However ties between Mr. Marcos and Ms. Duterte unraveled quickly and in spectacular fashion. By late 2023, Mr. Marcos’s authorities had quietly allowed I.C.C. investigators to enter the Philippines.
Final yr, the Philippines’ Home of Representatives began an inquiry into Mr. Duterte’s drug battle. The previous president refused to testify within the Home however appeared at a hearing in the Senate, the place he has appreciable help, in October.
“For all of its successes and shortcomings, I, and I alone, take full obligation,” he mentioned of the antidrug marketing campaign. “For all of the police did pursuant to my orders, I’ll take duty. I ought to be the one jailed, not the policemen who obeyed my orders. It’s pitiful, they’re simply doing their jobs.”
Marlise Simons contributed reporting from Paris.
