Rodrigo Detterte was arrested for crimes against humanity

The former president of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte He was arrested in Manila by the police on the basis of a mandate of the International Criminal Court (CPI) who cites crimes against humanity related to his war on drugs. The 79 -year -old is accused of “crime against humanity of murder”, according to the international criminal court, for a repression in which the groups for rights estimate that tens of thousands of men, mostly poor, were killed by agents and vigilantes, often without evidence that were linked to drugs. “In the early hours of the morning, Manila’s Interpol received the official copy of the arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court,” said the presidential building in a press release. “Starting now, it is in the custody of the authorities“. The declaration added that” the former president and its group are in good health and are controlled by government doctors “.

Detterte was arrested after landing at Manila international airport following a short trip to Hong Kong. On Sunday, speaking to thousands of Filipino workers abroad, the former president criticized the investigation, defining the investigators of the International Criminal Court “children of P ….. A” and stating that he would have “accepted” if the arrest had been his destiny. The Philippines left the International Criminal Court in 2019 on Detterte instructions, but the Court claimed to have jurisdiction on the killings that took place before the withdrawal, as well as on those that took place in the southern city of Davao when Drette was mayor, years before becoming president.

The investigations of the Court

He started a formal investigation in September 2021, and then suspend it two months later, after Manila said he was reviewing several hundred cases of anti -drug operations that led to the death of policemen, assassins and vigilantes. The case resumed in July 2023, after a commission of five judges rejected the objection of the Philippines according to which the court had no jurisdiction. Since then, the government of President Ferdinand Marcos has repeatedly declared that he would not collaborate in the investigations. But the Undersecretary of the Presidential Office for Communications Claire Castro on Sunday said that if Interpol “will ask for the necessary government assistance, it will be obliged to follow him“.

Detterte is still very popular among the Filipinos who have supported its rapid solutions to crime and remains a powerful political force. He is running to claim the place of mayor of his Roccaforte Davao in the mid -mandate elections of May. At the local level, accusations were formulated in a handful of cases linked to drug operations that led to the death of people, but only nine policemen were sentenced for the killing of alleged drug suspicions.

Detterte, who self -proclaimed himself, told the agents to fade fatally to drug traffickers if their life was in danger and insisted on the fact that the repression saved families and prevented the Philippines from turning into a “narco-political state“. On the occasion of the opening of an investigation by the Filipino Senate on drug war, in October, Detterte said he had not offered” apologies or justifications “for his actions.” I did what I had to do and, that you believe it or not, I did it for my country, “he said.

The accusations against Detterte

Detterte once said he would be happy to kill three million drug addicts. Although the former president reiterated that he is not responsible for any illegal death, The police estimated that he killed 6,000 people in his anti -drug campaign. But the groups for rights say that many thousands of other murders of men, mostly poor, remain inexplicable, and the prosecutors of the international criminal court estimate a balance of 12,000-30,000 deaths. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the European Union have criticized the controversial leader for his bombastic declarations that seem to support the killings.

Here is a selection of Detter’s comments on the deaths and war on drugs at the beginning of the repression:

• “When I become president, I will order the police and the military to find these people and kill them.” As a candidate for the presidency, Detterte states on March 16, 2016 that the drug in the Philippines will be eradicated thus killing so many drug dealers to cause a boom for funeral companies.
• “If you know drug addicts, kill them yourself, because making them kill their parents would be too painful.” Hours after the oath as president, Detterte goes to a slum from Manila and invites residents to kill the drug addicts on June 30, 2016.
• “This shooting campaign will remain until the last day of my mandate. I don’t care about human rights, believe me”. An unrepentant Dterte swears not to give up, while the budget of the victims of his war on drugs approaches 1,000 on August 6, 2016.
• “I would be happy to massacre them.” On September 30, 2016 Detterte estimated that in the Philippines there are three million drug addicts, adding that they would all like them dead. A year later, he said that the figure had grown to four million despite his vine round “I did it (kill) personally only to show the guys that if I can do it, you can do it too”.
• On 12 December 2016 Detterte boasts he had killed suspicions when he was mayor of the southern city of Davao. “If you commit corruption, whoever you are, I will make you fly by helicopter in Manila and I will throw you out. I have already done it in the past, why shouldn’t I do it again?”. Detterte alludes to a crime passed to explain how drastic measures against drugs and corruption will take on December 27, 2016. Sorry? I don’t mind.
• “Do you want to scare me by threatening to make me bang in prison? International criminal court? Bitted”. On November 28, 2016 Detterte was furious for the severe warning of the prosecutor of the CPI Fatou Bensouda, according to which anyone incite to “mass violence” in the Philippines is “potentially prosecuted” at the World Court.
• “I don’t give a damn about being pursued by the CPI. Do you do it. It would be a pleasure to go to prison for my country. It would be a great honor for me, even if they will not make me a hero, die for my country”. On September 20, 2017 Detterte escapes a potential process again.