Authorities in the Philippines have detained former President Rodrigo Duterte following a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) that accuses him of crimes against humanity related to his lethal “war on drugs.”
The 79-year-old was apprehended right after he arrived at Manila airport from Hong Kong.
He has not expressed any remorse for his severe anti-drug measures, which resulted in thousands of deaths during his presidency in the Southeast Asian country from 2016 to 2022, as well as his tenure as mayor of Davao City before that.
Duterte’s former spokesperson, Salvador Panelo, condemned the arrest as “unlawful,” arguing that the Philippines withdrew from the ICC in 2019. The ICC previously said it maintains jurisdiction in the Philippines for alleged crimes committed before the nation exited the court.
However, activists described the arrest as a “historic moment” for the victims of his drug campaign and their families, according to the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP).
Duterte had travelled to Hong Kong to campaign for the forthcoming mid-term elections on May 12, where he intended to run for mayor of Davao once more.
Footage broadcast on local television showed him exiting the airport with a cane. Authorities report that he is in “good health” and receiving care from government medical personnel.
Duterte held the position of mayor in Davao, a large southern city, for 22 years and successfully transformed it into one of the nation’s safest areas in terms of street crime.
He leveraged the city’s reputation for peace and order to present himself as a formidable, anti-establishment candidate, winning the 2016 elections considerably.
With aggressive rhetoric, he urged law enforcement to kill individuals suspected of drug offences. The police or unidentified assailants shot more than 6,000 suspects during the campaign, although human rights organizations suggest that the actual number may be even higher.
