A plane carrying the former president of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte arrived in the Netherlands where he had to face accusations of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court (ICC) on his “war on drugs”.
Duterte was arrested on Tuesday at Manila airport and in a few hours, there was an chartered jet that stole via Dubai in The Hague, where the ICC is located.
The 79 -year -old could become the first former Asian head of state to be tried at the ICC.
Duterte, who challenged her extradition, directed the Philippines from 2016 to 2022 and presided over a violent “war against drugs” which saw thousands of small drug traffickers, users and others killed without trial.
What you need to know about Duterte’s ICC arrest in 90 seconds …
The Gulfstream G550 landed in Dubai for a stopover early Wednesday and its planned departure was delayed for several hours while Duterte received medical checks, reports the Reuters news agency.
Once the plane landed in Rotterdam, the ICC confirmed that Duterte was in police custody to face accusations “of murder as a crime against humanity”.
“A hearing will be planned in due time for Mr. Duterte’s initial appearance before the court.”
Duterte’s main political rival, current President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, has helped put it back. A few minutes after Duterte left the Philippine airspace, Marcos pronounced a television address by saying that the country fulfilled its legal obligation.
“This is what the international community expects from us,” said Marcos.
The Duterte and Marcos families are the most powerful political dynasties of the Philippines. They have joined forces to sweep the country’s last national elections in 2022, but have fallen in recent months when they have pursued distinct agendas.
Duterte being given to the ICC is the last turn of a political quarrel that took place spectacular in view of the public.
The families Duterte and Marcos trained a formidable alliance in the 2022 elections. Against the wishes of the elder Duterte, his daughter Sara ran as vice-president of Marcos Jr instead of looking for the post of her father.
Marcos initially refused to cooperate with the ICC investigation, but as his relationship with the Duterte family deteriorated, he changed his position.
Vice-President Duterte said her father’s arrest was “kidnapping”, saying that it had violated Philippine sovereignty. On Wednesday, she left Manila for the Netherlands, according to her office.
Rodrigo Duterte previously insisted that the ICC had no jurisdiction over the Philippines, since he withdrew the court country in 2019, three years after taking note of the growing number of deaths of the drug war.
But according to the law of Rome which is the basis of the ICC, the court maintains its jurisdiction over the alleged crimes committed before a nation leaves the court.
The ICC survey covers 2011-2019, which includes the period when Duterte was mayor of Davao, a sprawling metropolis in the south of the country, where his family has power for decades.
The complaints filed against Duterte at the ICC alleys that he has kept a “death team” of bonus hunters to take care of the drug suspects in Davao, and then reproduced this model nationally when he was elected president.
Human Rights Watch described the arrest of Duterte a “critical stage for responsibility in the Philippines”.
Duterte built a reputation for Davao as one of the safest cities in the Philippines and cultivated the image of a man in the anti-settlement masses and the hard way to win a victory in Horse Dark during the 2016 presidential elections.
Surveys show that he is the most popular president of the Philippines since the restoration of democracy in 1986.
His supporters threatened to organize large gatherings to protest against his arrest. They had asked the Supreme Court to make a ban on the mandate of the ICC – but the court did not act before the former president was transported on Tuesday.
On social networks, where the Dutertes maintain strong follow -up, the reaction was mixed.
Many welcomed the ICC for doing justice to those who died in the drug war, while others defended Duterte’s inheritance, some calling for generalized rallies.
“Justice served,” read a high -level comment on Tiktok.
“The Philippines were safe at the time of Duterte,” said another user of Tiktok, saying that the former leader built bridges, roads and other infrastructures. “He was the best president.”
Additional reports by Fan Wang
