Former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte is in the crosshairs of international justice as the International Criminal Court (ICC) prepares to prosecute him for crimes against humanity over the blood-soaked legacy of his brutal “war on drugs.”
In a charge sheet released Monday, ICC prosecutors accuse the 80-year-old strongman of direct responsibility for at least 76 murders, spanning from his years as mayor of Davao City to his six-year presidency. Duterte is charged with three counts of crimes against humanity, each one tied to killings that rights groups say represent only a fraction of the thousands who perished in his drug war.
The indictment is damning. The first count links Duterte to 19 murders in Davao between 2013 and 2016. The second pins him to 14 executions of so-called “High Value Targets” at the height of his presidency. But it is the third charge that cuts deepest: Duterte is accused of orchestrating 43 killings during nationwide “clearance” operations between 2016 and 2018. Prosecutors told judges: “The actual scale of victimisation during the charged period was significantly greater, as reflected in the widespread nature of the attack.”
Duterte was arrested in Manila on March 11 and swiftly flown to The Hague, where he now sits in the ICC’s detention unit at Scheveningen Prison. His arrest warrant, issued on March 7, already alleged crimes against humanity linked to the drug war killings. Monday’s newly unsealed charges broaden the case, pulling Duterte’s years as mayor directly into the net.
The spectacle of Duterte in court may be delayed. His defense lawyer, Nicholas Kaufman, has moved to stop the proceedings, claiming the former president suffers from severe mental decline. “Mr. Duterte is unable to participate as a result of cognitive impairment in multiple domains,” Kaufman told judges, urging them to indefinitely suspend the trial. Judges are now weighing whether the ex-leader is fit to stand trial.
Duterte once bragged that he would fill Manila Bay with corpses to rid the country of drugs. Now, in a dramatic reversal, the man who promised impunity to police is facing the world’s highest criminal court.
The ICC has not yet set a date for the formal reading of charges. But if judges rule him fit to stand trial, Duterte will become one of the few modern heads of state to face international prosecution for crimes against humanity.
