Rodrigo Dutertete, a former president of the Philippines, was arrested Tuesday in Manila, after the International Criminal Court issued a warrant that accused him of crimes against humanity in his drug war, during which the human rights groups say.
He was detained at Manila’s airport after returning from a trip to Hong Kong, according to the Philippine government. Mr Duterte’s lawyer, Salvador Paneli, said the arrest was illegal, in part because the Philippines were withdrawn from the court while Mr Duterte was in power.
Mr Duterte, 79, who abandoned the post in 2022, is a populist Firebrand who remains one of the most influential Philippines politicians and has enjoyed the relative immunity, despite several accusations against him in relation to his campaign.
But Mr Duterte’s arrest could be an important step towards the responsibility for thousands of Philippians who have long called for justice for their loved ones, many of whom were shot by police officers, hit men and vigilance. Activists say the vast majority of the victims were poor, bourgeois Filipinos, some of whom were minors and people who had nothing to do with drug trade.
Only one handful of people have been convicted of murders, which groups of rights are about 30,000.
“I am very happy that Dutertete was arrested so that we can finally have justice,” said Cristina Jumola, whose three sons were killed during the drug war. “We’ve been waiting so much about it.”
It was not clear whether Mr Dutertete would be forced to surrender to the ICT, which is based in The Hague. The case will be a high -profile trial of the Court, who in recent months has called for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and the head of the military junta in Myanmar, Min Aung Hlaing, accusing the two men of crimes against humanity.
Recorded minutes before, Mr Dutertete was characteristic.
“You must first kill me if you are going to ally with white foreigners,” Mr Duterte said as he left the plane from Hong Kong, according to a video published by GMA News, a Philippine broadcast.
For years, Mr. Duterte has seemed untouched. As mayor of Davao, the second largest city in the Philippines, for more than two decades, ran a fatal repression of the confrontation. In 2016, he put the credentials of the law and order in a victory in the presidential election, although experts said the country had no drug problem.
In the final of the campaign race that year, Mr Duterte told the crowd to “forget human rights laws”.
“You drug promoters, men and men who do not, better go out,” he said. “Because I’ll kill you.” He said that he would give himself and the immunity of his security forces from the prosecution and forgives him “for the crime of multiple murders”.
While in office, Mr Duterte withdrew the Philippines from the ICC, which had begun to examine the out -of -court killings.
Mr Panelo, Mr Duterte’s lawyer, said the arrest was partly illegal because the Philippine police did not allow the former president to meet him at the airport. He said he was planning to file criminal complaints against the police and officials who ordered the arrest.
He added that the arrest was illegal because the arrest warrant “comes from a false source, the ICC, which has no jurisdiction in the Philippines”.
But the Philippines are still a member of Interpol, which may seek the arrest of Mr Duterte on behalf of the ICC, an Interpol spokesman was present when Mr Duterte was arrested.
When Mr Duterte’s single, six-year term of office ended in 2022, his administration stated that 6,252 people had been killed by security forces-described by officials as “drug suspects”.
Mr Dutertete seemed to enjoy impunity even under his successor, Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., son of the late dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos, went up to the presidency after a political alliance with his daughter Dutertete Sara, who was elected Vice President. At the beginning of his administration, Mr Marcos said he would not work with ICC
But the links between Mr Marcos and Ms Duterte unfolded quickly and spectacularly. By the end of 2023, Mr Marcos’ government quietly allowed ICC researchers to enter the Philippines.
Last year, the House of Representatives of the Philippines launched a research on Mr Duterte’s drug war. The former president refused to testify to the body, but appeared in a hearing in the Senate, where he has significant support in October.
“For all his successes and weaknesses, I and I only take full legal responsibility,” he said of the campaign against the perpetrators. “For the whole police he did according to my orders, I will take responsibility. I should be one prisoner, not the police officers who obey my orders. It’s sad, they just do their jobs.”
Marlise Simons References from Paris contribute.
