Exiled Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has been put on board a flight to The Hague after being arrested in Manila, said his daughter Sara Duterte. It follows the warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged crimes against humanity involving his controversial drug war.
Duterte, who was president from 2016 to 2022, is accused of presiding over extrajudicial executions that claimed thousands of lives. The ICC opened a probe into the suspected abuses, even though Duterte had initially refused to accept the court’s jurisdiction, maintaining that the Philippines withdrew from the ICC in 2019.
His arrest constitutes a dramatic milestone in the global judicial struggle over human rights in the Philippines. While the allies perceive him as a principled leader who took a tough line on crime, critics long insisted that he abetted a vicious crackdown that victimized local poor disproportionately.
As Duterte is brought to The Hague, worldwide focus is concentrated on the incoming legal proceeding. The government of the Philippines still has not announced an official press release on the arrest, yet the ICC emphasized its intention of holding leaders answerable for abusing human rights.
