THE HAGUE â Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte was turned over Wednesday to the custody of the International Criminal Court, following his arrest on a warrant accusing him of crimes against humanity over deadly anti-drugs crackdowns he oversaw while in office.
The court said in a statement that as a precautionary measure medical assistance was made available at the airport for Duterte, in line with standard procedures when a suspect arrives.
The 79-year-old former president arrived at Rotterdam The Hague Airport earlier Wednesday on a flight from Manila following his arrest there on an ICC warrant on Tuesday, as announced by current Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos. Rights groups and families of victims hailed Dutertes arrest.
Within days, he will face an initial appearance where the court will confirm his identity, check that he understands the charges against him, and set a date for a hearing to assess if prosecutors have sufficient evidence to send him to a full trial.
If his case goes to trial and he is convicted, Duterte could face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. The small jet carrying Duterte could be seen as it taxied into a hangar where two buses were waiting. An ambulance also drove close to the hangar, and medics wheeled a gurney inside.
A police helicopter hovered close to the airport as the plane remained in the hangar, largely obscured from view by the buses and two fuel tanker trucks.
This is a monumental and long-overdue step for justice for thousands of victims and their families, said Jerrie Abella of Amnesty International. It is therefore a hopeful sign for them, as well, in the Philippines and beyond, as it shows that suspected perpetrators of the worst crimes, including government leaders, will face justice wherever they are in the world, Abella added.
Emily Soriano, the mother of a victim of the crackdowns, said she wanted more officials to face justice. Duterte is lucky he has due process, but our children who were killed did not have due process, she said.
While Dutertes plane was in the air, grieving relatives gathered in the Philippines to mourn his alleged victims, carrying the urns of their loved ones. We are happy and we feel relieved, said 55-year-old Melinda Abion Lafuente, mother of 22-year-old Angelo Lafuente, who she says was tortured and killed in 2016.
Dutertes supporters, however, criticized his arrest as illegal and sought to have him returned home. Small groups of Duterte supporters and people who backed his arrest demonstrated on Wednesday outside the court before his arrival.
The ICC opened an inquiry in 2021 into mass killings linked to the so-called war on drugs overseen by Duterte when he served as mayor of the southern Philippine city of Davao and later as president. Estimates of the death toll during Dutertes presidential term vary, from the more than 6,000 that the national police have reported and up to 30,000 claimed by human rights groups.
ICC judges who looked at prosecution evidence supporting their request for his arrest found reasonable grounds to believe that Mr. Duterte is individually responsible for the crime against humanity of murder as an indirect co-perpetrator for having allegedly overseen the killings when he was mayor of Davao and later president of the Philippines, according to his warrant.
Duterte could challenge the courts jurisdiction and the admissibility of the case. While the Philippines is no longer a member of the ICC, the alleged crimes happened before Manila withdrew from the court. That process will likely take months and if the case progresses to trial it could take years.
Duterte will be able to apply for provisional release from the courts detention center while he waits, though its up to judges to decide whether to grant such a request. Dutertes legal counsel, Salvador Panelo, told reporters in Manila that th
