ICC charges Duterte with crimes against humanity
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Former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte has been charged with crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The 80-year-old is accused of being criminally responsible for dozens of murders that allegedly took place as part of his so-called war on drugs, during which thousands of small-time drug dealers, users and others were killed without trial.
Duterte is the first Asian former head of state to be indicted by the ICC.
ICC deputy prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang said Duterte was an “indirect co-perpetrator” in the killings, which the court alleges were carried out by others, including police.
A redacted version of the ICC’s charge sheet was only made public on Tuesday AEST.
The first count against Duterte relates to his alleged indirect co-perpetration in the murders of 19 people between 2013 and 2016 when he was mayor of Davao City.
It was in this southern stronghold, which Duterte ruled for decades, that he tested his war on drugs, which he later implemented nationwide during his presidency from 2016 to 2022.
“During the mayoral period, Duterte, [redacted] and the above-mentioned law enforcement officials used police from Davao City and non-police hitmen (together, the DDS) to kill alleged criminals,” the document said, without revealing the names of the former president’s accomplices.
It added the former president headed the so-called Davao Death Squad (DDS).
The other two counts relate to the murders of 57 people. Fourteen of them were classified by the ICC as “high-value targets,” some of whom appeared on a list that offered financial incentives to police officers.
These 57 murders took place from the beginning of Duterte’s presidency in 2016 until 2019, when he withdrew the Philippines from the Rome Statute that governs the ICC, fearing prosecution.
“Duterte and his co-perpetrators shared a common plan or agreement to ‘neutralise’ alleged criminals in the Philippines (including those perceived or alleged to be associated with drug use, sale or production) through violent crimes including murder,” the document said.
The ICC ordered Duterte’s arrest in March, accusing him of murder as a crime against humanity in the context of his war on drugs which, during his term, killed some 6000 people, police say. NGOs put the figure at around 30,000.
He surrendered to the ICC on March 12 in response to the arrest warrant, and appeared before the judges in The Hague for the first time two days later.
Duterte’s supporters allege the ICC is being used as a political tool by the Philippines’ current president Ferdinand Marcos, who had publicly fallen out with the powerful Duterte family.
The ICC effectively has no power to arrest people without the co-operation of the countries they are in, which is most often refused – and Marcos had previously dismissed the idea of co-operating with the ICC.
with agencies
EFE
