Former Philippines leader Dutee arrested on ICC warrant on drug killing

The Philippine police arrested former President Rodrigo Dutee after a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in which his deadly “drugs on drugs” were accused of crimes against humanity.

The 79 -year -old was taken into police custody soon after arriving at Manila Airport from Hong Kong.

He has not given any apology for his cruel-cruel-nine drug cracks, in which thousands of people of the Southeast Asian Nation and the Mayor of Davo City were killed from 2016 to 2022.

On his arrest, he inquired on the basis of warrant, asking: “Have I committed crime (is)?”

Former Dutert’s former President spokesperson Salvador Panlo slammed the arrest, called it “illegal” as the Philippines withdrew from the ICC in 2019.

The ICC had earlier said that it has jurisdiction in the Philippines on alleged crimes before returning as a member of the country.

But the activists called the arrest a “historic moment” for those who were killed in their drug war and their families, the international coalition for human rights in the Philippines.

ICHRP president Peter Murphy said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but today, it is bent towards justice. Dutee’s arrest has initiated accountability for mass murders that define his cruel rule.”

Duterte was in Hong Kong to campaign for the mid-term elections on May 12 on 12 May, where he planned to run for the mayor of Davo.

Footage aired on local television showed him out of the airport using a cane. Officials say he is in “good health” and is being taken care of by government doctors.

“What is my sin? I did everything for peace in my time and in a peaceful life for the Philippino people,” he told a cheering crowd of Philipino migrants before leaving Hong Kong.

A video posted by her daughter Veronica Dutee detained Duterte at a lounge at Wilmor Air Base in Manila. In this, he can be heard questioning the cause of his arrest.

“What is the law and what is the crime I have committed? I was brought here that it is not of my own wish, it belongs to someone else. You have to answer now to be deprived of freedom.”

Duterte served as the mayor of the southern metropolis, Davo for 22 years and has made it one of the safest in the country from road crimes.

He envisaged the peace-and the reputation of the order of the Davo and cast himself as a difficult anti-politician to win the 2016 elections by a landslide.

With fierce rhetoric, he stopped security forces to shoot drug suspects dead. More than 6,000 suspects were closed by police or unknown assailants during the campaign, but rights groups say the number may be higher.

A previous United Nations report found that most of the victims were young poor urban men and the police, who do not require a search or arrest warrant to conduct the raid of the house, forced the suspects in a systematic statement to give self-faced statements or to risk to face a deadly force.

Critics said that the campaign targeted road-level pushers from urban poor and failed to catch big-time drugs Lords. Many families also claimed that the victim – their son, brother or husband – were in the wrong place only at the wrong time.

Investigation in Parliament pointed to a shady “Death Squad” of Bounty Hunters targeting drug suspects. Duterte denied allegations of misconduct.

Duterte said in an investigation by a Parliament in October, “Don’t question my policies because I do not apologize, there is no excuse. I did what I had to do, and you believe it or not … I did it for my country.”

“I hate drugs, there is no mistake about it.”

The ICC first focused on the alleged abuses in 2016 and started its investigation in 2021. It covered the cases since November 2011, when Dutee was the mayor of Davo, from March 2019, before the Philippines withdrew from the ICC.

Duterte is popular in the Philippines as he is the first leader in the country from Mindanao, a region south of Manila, where many people are marginalized by leaders in the capital.

He often speaks in Sebuano, regional language, not Tagalog, which is more widely spoken in Manila and northern regions.

His populist rhetoric and blunt statements earned him a Monikar to “East Donald Trump”. He called Russian President Vladimir Putin his “idol” and under his administration, the Philippines away from China away from China, which has been a long -time ally.

Her daughter and political successor, Sarah Dutee, Philippines is the current vice -president and has been given as a potential presidential candidate in 2028.

In recent months, President Ferdinand Marcos performed brilliantly before the public scene, with the Dute Family alliance, soon after Marcos and Sara Dutee won the 2022 elections with a landslide.

Marcos initially refused to cooperate with the ICC investigation, but as their relations with the Duterte family deteriorated, they changed their stand, and later indicated that the Philippines would cooperate.

It is not yet clear that the Marocos will run as far as to extradite the former President to prosecute the Hague.

Additional reporting by Virma Simate in Manila