Filipinas Duterte attends the first ICC audience through a video link

Hague: former President Filipino, Rodrigo Duterte, did not attend his first hearing in the Court in the International Criminal Court of The Hague on Friday (March 14), where he faces accusations of murder derived from his “War on drugs“

Duterte, 79, was tired after flying to the Netherlands from the Philippines after his arrest and was allowed to attend the session through a video link, Judge President Iulia Motoc said to the Court.

He had “a long trip with a considerable time difference,” he said.

Duterte, with blue suit and tie and appearing fragile, confirmed his identity and age.

Duterte arrived in the Netherlands on a flight from Manila on Wednesday and was taken to the custody of the ICC after being arrested by the authorities with a Order of the CPI.

Prosecutors have accused him of crimes against humanity for what they call a systematic attack against the civilian population. Thousands of supposed traffickers and drug users were killed during the repression, when the death squads that he allegedly created and armed carried out generalized extrajudicial murders.

Duterte arrived at Rotterdam airport on a rented plane and was transferred to a detention unit on the Dutch coast along the road from the CPI building. In a video message on social networks, he taken for their actions.

Duterte, who directed the Philippines from 2016 to 2022, will be the first former Asian head of state to be tried in the ICC, a last resort court created more than two decades ago to process people for war crimes, crimes against humanity, aggression and genocide.