The former president of the Philippines, Duterte, arrested at the request of the ICC for murders of ‘Drug War’

“There are no apologies, without excuses”

Duterte, 79, has repeatedly defended repression. He denies ordering the murders of drug suspects and said he instructed the police to kill only in self -defense.

Duterte, a self-proclaimed murderer, told the officers to fatally shoot the suspected narcotics if their lives were at risk and insisted that the repression saved families and prevented the Philippines from becoming a “drug-political state.”

The arrest follows years of Duterte mocking the ICC as he unilaterally withdrew the Philippines of the Court’s founding treaty in 2019 when he began investigating the accusations of extrajudicial murders systematic in his surveillance.

The Philippines refused until last year to cooperate with an investigation into alleged crimes against humanity by the ICC, who says he has jurisdiction to investigate incidents while a country is a member.

At the opening of an investigation by the Filipino Senate in the war on drugs in October, Duterte said he offered “without apologies, without excuses” for his actions.

“I did what I had to do, and if you believe it or not, I did it for my country,” he said.

According to the police, 6,200 suspects were killed during the anti -drug operations that, they say, ended in shootings. But activists say that the real toll of repression was much greater, with thousands of Slumland drug users, many of which were included in the “official” surveillance lists, killed in mysterious circumstances.

The police denies participation in these murders and rejects accusations of systematic execution rights groups and coverings.