ICC takes the custody of the former president of the Philippines Duterte

In a matter of days, Duterte will face an initial appearance in which the court will confirm its identity, verify that you understand the charges against it and establish a date for an audience to evaluate whether the prosecutors have sufficient evidence to send it to a complete trial.

If your case goes to trial and is convicted, Duterte could face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

Afflicted families have hope

“This is a monumental and old step for justice for thousands of victims and their families,” said Jerrie Abella of Amnesty International.

“Therefore, it is also a hopeful sign for them, in the Philippines and beyond, since it shows that the alleged perpetrators of the worst crimes, including government leaders, will face justice where they are in the world,” Abella added.

Emily Soriano, the mother of a victim of repressionsHe said he wanted more officials to face justice.

“Duterte is lucky that he has due process, but our children who were killed did not have due process,” he said.

While Duterte’s plane was in the air, afflicted relatives gathered in the Philippines to cry their alleged victims, carrying the polls of their loved ones. “We are happy and we are relieved,” said Melinda Abion Lafuente, 55, mother of Angelo Lafuente, 22, who, according to her, was tortured and killed in 2016.

Duterte’s supporters, however, criticized their arrest as illegal and tried to return home. Small groups of supporters of Duterte and people who supported their arrest demonstrated on Wednesday outside the court before arrival.

ICC research

The ICC opened an investigation in 2021 on mass murders linked to the so -called war on drugs Supervised by Duterte When he served as mayor of the city of Davao in the south of the Philippines and then as president.

Estimates of the death toll during the presidential term of Duterte vary, from the more than 6,000 that the National Police has reported and up to 30,000 human rights groups.

The CPI judges who analyzed the prosecution evidence that support their request for their arrest found “reasonable reasons to believe that Duterte is individually responsible for the crime against murder humanity” as an “indirect coperperator for having supervised the murders when he was mayor of Davao and later president of the Philippines,” according to his order.

In his statement on Wednesday, the ICC described the technical stages of the next hearing, without establishing a specific date, and thanked the Philippine authorities “for his commitment to defend the mechanisms of international responsibility.”

What happens later?

Duterte could challenge the court jurisdiction and the admissibility of the case. While the Philippines is no longer a member of the ICC, the alleged crimes occurred before Manila retired from the court.

That process will probably take months and if the case advances for the trial, it could take years. Duterte may request the provisional release of the Court’s arrest center while waiting, although it depends on the judges to decide whether to grant such a request.

GMA Integrated News, based in the Philippines, published a video on Wednesday from Duterte who said he was taken while on the plane. “To my compatriots, just to give him the current situation,” he said in a statement that combines English and Tagalo. “This will be a long legal procedure. I tell you that I will continue to serve you. ″

Duterte’s legal advisor, Salvador Panayo, told reporters in Manila that the Supreme Court of the Philippines “can force the Government to bring back the arrested and detained person without probable cause and force the government to bring him before the court and explain why (the government) did what they did.”

Marcos said Tuesday that Duterte’s arrest was “appropriate and correct” and not an act of political persecution.

The daughter of Duterte, Vice President Sara Duterte, criticized Marcos’s administration for giving her father a foreign court, which she currently has no jurisdiction in the Philippines.

He left the Philippines on Wednesday to organize a meeting in The Hague with his father arrested and talk to his lawyers, his office told reporters in Manila.

Philippines is no longer a CPI Member State

Duterte withdrew the Philippines in 2019 from the ICC, in a movement, according to human rights activists, aimed to escape responsibility.

The Duterte administration moved to suspend the investigation of the global court at the end of 2021 by arguing that the Philippine authorities were already Looking at the same accusationsArguing that the ICC, a last resort court, therefore, had no jurisdiction.

The CPI appeals judges rejected those arguments and ruled in 2023 that the investigation could resume.

The Judges of the ICC who issued the order also said that the alleged crimes fall within the jurisdiction of the Court. They said that Duterte’s arrest was necessary due to what they called the “risk of interference with the investigations and safety of witnesses and victims.”

Aleksandar Furtula in The Hague, Joeal Calupitan and Basilio Sepe in Manila, Philippines, Jerry Harmer in Bangkok and Molly Quell contributed to this report.

Originally published: March 12, 2025 at 12:42 PM EDT