File photo: Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte (Picture credit: AP)
Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has been charged with three counts of crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court (ICC), in connection with his deadly war on drugs, officials announced Monday. According to BBC, the 80-year-old, currently in ICC custody in The Hague, is accused of being criminally responsible for dozens of murders carried out by others, including police, during his campaigns as both mayor and president.The ICC’s charge sheet, heavily redacted and dated July 4, was made public on Monday. Count one alleges Duterte’s involvement as an “indirect co-perpetrator” in 19 killings in Davao City between 2013 and 2016, when he was mayor, as per news agency AFP. The second charge relates to 14 murders of so-called “high-value targets” across the country between 2016 and 2017 during his presidency. The third count concerns the murder and attempted murder of 45 people in village clearance operations between 2016 and 2022.ICC prosecutors stated that Duterte and his alleged co-perpetrators “shared a common plan or agreement to ‘neutralise’ alleged criminals in the Philippines (including those perceived or alleged to be associated with drug use, sale or production) through violent crimes including murder”. They added that the scale of victimisation was significantly greater, noting that killings were “perpetrated consistently throughout the charged period”.Duterte, who has never apologised for the crackdown that activists say may have killed tens of thousands, claimed the campaign was intended to rid the country of street crime, as per the BBC. He was arrested in Manila on March 11 and flown to the Netherlands, where he has been held at the ICC’s Scheveningen detention unit. His lawyer, Nicholas Kaufman, has argued that Duterte is unfit to stand trial due to “cognitive impairment in multiple domains” and has requested the proceedings be postponed indefinitely.Despite being in detention, Duterte was re-elected mayor of Davao in May, with his son Sebastian continuing as acting mayor. Supporters of Duterte have criticised the ICC’s case, suggesting it is politically motivated by the current President, Ferdinand Marcos, who has previously clashed with the Duterte family.Rodrigo Duterte is the first Asian former head of state to be indicted by the ICC and the first to be flown to The Hague in over three years.
