Philippines ex-leader Duterte arrested on ICC warrant over drug killings happymamay

The Philippine police arrested former President Rodrigo Dutti after the International Criminal Court issued an order accusing him of crimes against humanity because of his deadly “war of drugs”.

The 79 -year -old was transferred to the police seizure shortly after his arrival at Manila Airport from Hong Kong.

He did not apologize for the anti -drug brutal campaign, which witnessed the killing of thousands of people when he was the head of the nation of Southeast Asia from 2016 to 2022, and the mayor of Davao City before that.

Upon his arrest, he asked about the basis of the arrest order, “What is the crime [have] I committed? “

Former Dotte Spokesman Salvador Billo criticized the detention, describing him as “illegal” because the Philippines withdrew from the International Criminal Court in 2019.

The International Criminal Court said earlier that it had a jurisdiction in the Philippines due to the alleged crimes committed before the country’s withdrawal as a member.

But activists described the arrest of a “historic moment” for those who died in the drug war and their families.

“The ethical arc of the universe is long, but today, it has bent towards justice.” Dotte’s arrest is the beginning of accountability for mass killings that defined his brutal rule, “said Peter Murphy, Ichrp president.

Dotti was in Hong Kong to the campaign in the advanced elections next May 12, as he was planning to run for the position of Davao mayor.

Footage on local TV showed that it would leave the airport using a cane. The authorities say he is in “good health” and is taken care of by government doctors.

“What is my sin? I did everything in my time for peace and a peaceful life for the Filipino people.”

A video posted by his daughter Veronica Duterti Duterti showed a hall at the Velamore Air Force Base in Manila. In it, he can hear it wondering why he was arrested.

“What is the law and what is the crime you committed?

Davao, the mayor of Davao, a spopolis south of the sprawling of 22 years, has occupied it and made it one of the country’s most crimes in the country.

Davao’s reputation was photographed and limited, and he made it a difficult politician against the Foundation to win the 2016 elections by a landslide.

With the fiery speech, the security forces mobilized the shooting of the dead drugs. More than 6000 suspects were shot by police or unknown attackers during the campaign, but rights groups say the number may be higher.

A previous report at the United Nations found that most of the victims were poor urban males and that the police, who did not need search or arrest orders to conduct raids at home, and the suspects systematically to make self -discrimination data or the risks facing deadly force.

Critics said that the campaign targeted the motives of the level of the poor in urban areas and failed to capture the great drug princes. Many families also claimed that the victims – their children, brothers or husbands – were simply in the wrong time.

Investigations in Parliament indicated a mysterious “death squad” of reward fishermen targeting drug suspects. Duttiti denied the abuse of abuse.

“I don’t wonder about my policies because I do not apologize,” Duttti said.

“I hate drugs, I don’t mistake it.”

The International Criminal Court noticed for the first time the alleged violations in 2016 and began to investigate them in 2021. Cases were covered as of November 2011, when Doterti was the mayor of Davao, until March 2019, before the Philippines withdrew from the International Criminal Court.

Dutete is still famous in the Philippines because he is the first leader in the country from Mindanao, the South Manila region, where many people feel marginalized by leaders in the capital.

It often speaks in Sibuano, the regional language, not tagalog, which is known on a wider scale in Manila and the northern regions.

His popular and casual statements earned him the title “Donald Trump from the East.” Russian President Vladimir Putin called “the idol” and under his administration, and the Philippines has interviewed their foreign policy to China away from the United States, its old ally.

His daughter, his political heir, Sarah Doterti, is the current Vice President of the Philippine President, and she is tilted as a possible presidential candidate in 2028.

In recent months, the Dotrt family alliance with the current President Ferdinand Marcus revealed in a staggering way before public opinion, shortly after Marcus and Sara Duttiti’s victory in the 2022 elections by a landslide.

Marcus initially refused to cooperate with an investigation into the International Criminal Court, but with the deterioration of his relationship with the Doter family, he changed his position, and later indicated that the Philippines would cooperate.

It is not yet clear whether Marcus will go to the extent that the former chief of trial in The Hague.

Participated in additional reports from Virma Simonette in Manila