Former Philippines President Duterte in ICC custody over anti-drugs crackdown – CNN International

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Former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte is now in the custody of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Netherlands following his dramatic arrest in Manila the day before over a brutal, years-long anti-drugs crackdown that left thousands of his citizens dead.

Duterte was placed on a flight late on Tuesday, the current government said, and arrived in the Netherlands, where the ICC is located, on Wednesday. “They are taking him out on a plane by force without considering his health conditions,” the former authoritarian’s youngest daughter Veronica Duterte wrote on Instagram.

In a separate statement to The Philippine Star, Sara Duterte – Duterte’s elder daughter, who is also the country’s vice president – said her father was being taken to The Hague. “As I write this, he is being forcibly taken to The Hague tonight. This is not justice – this is oppression and persecution,” she said, according to the outlet.

Duterte’s plane stopped in Dubai for several hours before arriving in Rotterdam just before 5:00 p.m. local time (12:00 p.m. ET) on Wednesday according to FlightRadar24.

Duterte received medical attention during the layover in Dubai, Reuters reported.

After her father’s plane took off, Sara Duterte told a reporter she would head to the Netherlands on Wednesday.

In a Wednesday statement, the ICC said the former president was “surrendered” to its custody, and a hearing would be scheduled in “due course.” Earlier in the day, it told CNN that Duterte would not be in court at The Hague on Wednesday and that it is unclear when he will make his first court appearance.

Duterte, 79, was taken into custody at the main airport in the capital Manila after returning to the Philippines from Hong Kong on Tuesday, charged with crimes against humanity. The ICC on Tuesday confirmed it had issued an arrest warrant for Duterte on “charges of the crime of murder as a crime against humanity,” for actions it alleges were committed between November 1, 2011, and March 16, 2019. CNN has reached out to Interpol for comment.

Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., Duterte’s successor as president, said he had received the Interpol notice for Duterte’s arrest warrant at 3 a.m. local time.

“Interpol asked for help and we obliged because we have commitments to the Interpol which we have to fulfill,” Marcos told a press conference Tuesday night.

The former leader oversaw a ferocious crackdown on drug pushers in the Southeast Asian country, targeting a criminal trade with relentless and bloody zeal that sparked widespread anger among his supporters. The crackdown killed more than 6,000 people based on police data, though independent monitors believe the number of extrajudicial killings could be much higher.

The ICC, which sits in the Dutch city of The Hague, had previously said it was investigating Duterte, but his arrest nonetheless caught the country off guard. It immediately mobilized his significant throng of supporters, some of whom angrily confronted police outside the airbase where he was held for several hours.

“I’m sad because I didn’t think it would come to a point where he would be arrested. For me, he did a lot for our country and this is what they did to him,” 31-year-old Aikko Valdon, a Filipino who works overseas, told Reuters on Tuesday.

Duterte’s arrest and removal from the country is a stunning coda to a stormy and violent stint at the top of Philippines politics. Duterte ruled the country of 115 million people for six years, and his unrelenting war on drugs left behind a bloody legacy, but he is celebrated by voters particularly in Davao city, where he served as mayor for about two decades before ascending to the presidency.

His drug crackdown killed thousands; many of the victims were young men from impoverished shanty towns, shot by police and rogue gunmen as part of a campaign to target dealers. It prompted internal inquiries and an ICC investigation that culminated in Tuesday’s arrest. Duterte has repeatedly denied the extrajudicial killing of alleged drug suspects, although he also openly admitted to ordering police to shoot suspects who resist arrest.

Loved ones of those killed in Duterte’s violent crackdown rejoiced at his arrest. Christine Pascual, the mother of one of the victims, told Reuters: “Through our prayers, what we believed in, and for all the people around us, we did not expect this to happen, after all the years we have fought for justice, finally a warrant of arrest was issued against a president and to Duterte at that.”

Others said this is just the beginning of a long road to justice.

“The fight has just started but we will make sure to see this through. We will not stop,” said Llore Pasco, a mother of two victims.

Duterte withdrew the Philippines from the ICC in 2019, in a move condemned by critics as an effort to shield himself from accountability. But under the ICC’s withdrawal mechanism, the court keeps jurisdiction over crimes committed during the membership period of a state – in this case, between 2016, when his term started, and 2019, when the Philippines’ pullout became official.

The ICC said Tuesday that once a suspect was in its custody, an initial appearance hearing would be scheduled.

At an event on Sunday in Hong Kong, Duterte lashed out at the ICC amid speculation that his arrest war nearing. “I have a warrant … from the ICC or something,” he told supporters. “What did I do wrong? I did everything that I could in my time, so there is a little bit of quiet and peace for the lives of the Filipinos.”

His political ambitions did not conclude with the end of his term in office; Duterte registered in October to run as mayor in Davao.

And he is supported by a political dynasty that still exerts authority up and down the country. His daughter Sara was herself impeached last month on a range of accusations that include plotting to assassinate the new president.

And his son Sebastian Duterte is the current mayor of Davao; he had planned to run as his father’s vice-mayor in next year’s mid-term elections.

Correction: This story has been corrected to clarify that the Instagram post was uploaded by Duterte’s daughter Veronica.

CNN’s Kathleen Magramo, Michael Rios, Jinky Jorgio, Kara Fox, Hira Humayun, Stephanie Halasz, Avery Schmitz and Heather Law contributed reporting