What will happen to former President Rodrigo Duterte arrested and accused of crimes against humanity?

Duterte was in the center of attention during a weekend trip to Hong Kong, when the trip raised speculations that he could have exiled to evade the arrest. He appeared as the main speaker on Sunday in a meeting of thousands of Filipino expatriates who cheered and waved flags at the Wan Chai district stadium.

Now with 79 years and in poor health, Duterte campaigned for the Senate candidates of his political party for the intermediate elections of May 12 in the Philippines. He affirmed that he was aware that the International Criminal Court He had issued an arrest warrant against him.

Once again he tried to justify the brutal repression while the crowd encouraged him. The police arrested him when he got out of the plane at Manila International Airport based on an order of the CPI.

Here are more about Duterte, His case before the CPI and what awaits one of the most controversial leaders in Asia:

Duterte, a former prosecutor, congressman and mayor for a long time of the southern city Filipina de Davao, built a political name with his diatribes full of rudeness against the elites, the Catholic Church and the West. He was also seen as a populist and supporter of the poor, but perhaps he is better remembered for his brutal approach to crime, particularly illegal drugs.

Under his repression imposed by the police in Davao at the beginning of the millennium, It is estimated that 1,000 suspects, mostly poor, were extrajudicially killed. A policeman involved in Davao murders who later distanced himself from Duterte told The Associated Press that up to 10,000 suspects were killed by police and civil death squads.

The number of deaths in the repression was alarmingly high for years, winning Duterte nicknames such as “The punishment” and “Duterte Harry”, In reference to the police character of a western film with little respect for the law.

Human rights activists denounce that people were afraid to testify against Duterte in court.

In 2016, Duterte won the presidency with a bold promise But failed to eradicate illegal drugs and corruption within three to six months, in a country that had been tired of crime and corruption scandals.

“All of you who are in drugs, children of bitch, I will really kill you,” Duterte told a huge crowd in a campaign event in Manila in 2016. “I have no patience, I have no middle ground. Or they kill me or I will kill them, idiots. ”

The United States, the European Union and other Western governments expressed their alarm, which led Duterte in 2016 to tell the then US president Barack Obama “you can go to hell” while threatening to “break with the United States.”

The ICC initiated an investigation into drug -related murders under Duterte since November 1, 2011, when he was still mayor of Davao, until March 16, 2019, as possible crimes against humanity. Duterte retired the Philippines in 2019 of the Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the Court, in a movement that human rights activists say that it sought to escape the responsibility for the murders.

The Duterte administration requested to suspend the investigation of the global court at the end of 2021 arguing that the Philippines authorities They were already investigating the same accusations and that the CPI “A court of last instance,” he had no jurisdiction.

The CPI appeal judges ruled in July 2023 that the investigation could be resumed and rejected the objections of the Duterte administration. Based in The Hague, the Netherlands, the CPI can intervene when countries do not want or cannot process suspects of atrocious international crimes such as genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

President Filipino Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who happened to Duterte in 2022 and was involved in a bitter political dispute with the former president, has decided not to reincorporate himself to the global court. But the Marcos administration has said that it will cooperate if the CPI Ask the International Police to stop Duterte through a so -called red warning, a request for agencies to apply the law of the whole world locate and temporarily arrest a suspect of a crime.

China, who controls Hong Kong, and the Philippines do not currently belong to the CPI, but both are members of Interpol. The global court can issue an arrest warrant for Duterte through Interpol.

An outstanding Philippine politician closely involved in the cases of the ICC against Duterte told the AP during the weekend that the global court had issued an arrest warrant for Duterte through Interpol. The politician spoke on condition of anonymity due to the lack of authority to discuss the sensitive matter.

Neither the CPI nor Interpol have yet confirmed the issuance of an arrest warrant.

In his divontal speech against Filipino workers in Hong Kong on Sunday, I Duterte again justified his lethal anti -drug campaign, insisting that he was protecting the Philippine people.

Duterte has denied having authorized extrajudicial murders, but threatened openly and repeatedly killing drug traffickers when I was in office.

“What was my sin?” Duterte asked in Hong Kong. “I did everything in my time so that the Filipinos could have some peace and tranquility.”

He indicated that he was prepared to go to CárceL, but he told the crowd in joke to make donations for the construction of a monument of him – which suggested, with a gesture of the hand, that he should show him holding a weapon.

Duterte had said that he retired from politics after his stormy presidential mandate ended in 2022. But in another turn, he registered to run as mayor of Davao with one of his children as a formula partner to be vicealcalde, in the May elections.

In Davao, additional police forces were deployed at the International Airport and additional control points were established, in an attempt by the authorities to be prepared for any eventuality before the intermediate elections. Davao forces and other places could intervene if the arrest of Duterte causes disturbances.