Ex-Philippines president extradited to The Hague over war on drugs

Lawyers for Rodrigo Duterte have filed a petition accusing the government of “kidnapping”

Former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has been flown to The Hague and placed in the custody of the International Criminal Court (ICC). He faces charges of crimes against humanity linked to the ‘war on drugs’ during his presidency.

The plane carrying Duterte landed in the Netherlands on Wednesday, a day after his arrest at Manila’s international airport the day before on ICC orders. 

In a statement on Wednesday, the ICC said Duterte was “surrendered” into its custody and a hearing would be scheduled in “due course.”  On Tuesday, the ICC confirmed to CNN it had issued an arrest warrant for actions it alleges were committed between 2011 and 2019. 

After becoming president in 2016, Duterte launched a war on drugs, promising to rid the country of illegal narcotics by ordering the national police service to kill any drug suspects if they believed officers were in danger. 

The ICC launched a preliminary probe into Duterte’s anti-drug campaign in 2018. The court initially looked into allegations that Philippines police carried out thousands of extrajudicial executions and used other brutal tactics against suspected drug dealers, and that Duterte gave implicit backing to those actions. 

Activists accused the authorities of killing innocent people, including children, though the police insisted they only used violence in self-defense. Duterte has denied wrongdoing but acknowledged that the crackdown was not bloodless. Official reports indicate that around 6,200 people were killed during police operations, though observers suggest the figure could be much higher.

In a video shared online by his youngest daughter, Duterte is seen questioning the legality of his arrest. “What is my sin?” he asks. “I did everything in my time so that Filipinos can have a little peace and tranquilly.”

Duterte’s lawyers, acting on behalf of his daughter Veronica, filed a petition accusing the government of “kidnapping” and demanding his return. Duterte’s eldest daughter Sara, the country’s current vice-president, flew to Amsterdam on Wednesday morning to assist with his defense.

Human rights advocates have condemned the arrest as unlawful, pointing out that the Philippines formally withdrew from the ICC in 2019 on Duterte’s directive.

The ICC maintains it retains jurisdiction over alleged crimes that may have been committed while the country was a signatory to the court.

RT correspondent Rebecca Napitupulu, reporting on the arrest from Jakarta, Indonesia, noted that Duterte has openly criticized Western powers, particularly the US, accusing them of colonization and warmongering.

In a 2020 interview with RT, Duterte said the US continued to treat his country like a “vassal state,” referring to the nearly 50-year period of American colonial rule when, he said, “they lived off the fat of the land before we got our independence.”