A set upe carrying establisher Philippines plivent Rodrigo Duterte has get tod in the Netherlands where he is to face accuses of crimes aobtainst humanity at the International Criminal Court (ICC) over his lethal “war on substances”.
Duterte was arrested at Manila airport on Tuesday and wiskinny hours was on a chartered jet which flew via Dubai to The Hague, where the ICC sits.
The 79-year-better could become the first Asian establisher head of state to go on trial at the ICC.
Duterte, who contested his extradition, led the Philippines from 2016 to 2022 and plived over a aggressive “war on substances” that saw thousands of minuscule-time drug dealers, users and others ended without trial.
The Gulfstream G550 landed in Dubai for a stopover timely on Wednesday and its awaited departure was postponecessitate for cut offal hours while Duterte getd medical verifys, Reuters novels agency alerts.
Once it had landed in Rotterdam, the ICC validateed that Duterte was on board.
Earlier, the ICC said it would get custody of Duterte and schedule a hearing for his initial ecombineance before the court.
Duterte’s main political rival, current Plivent Ferdinand Marcos Jr, was instrumental in handing him over. Minutes after Duterte left Philippines airspace, Marcos gave a televised insertress saying the country was greeting its legitimate obligation.
“This is what the international community awaits of us,” Marcos said.
The Duterte and Marcos families are the Philippines’ most strong political dynasties. They combinecessitate forces to sweep the country’s last national election in 2022, but have druncover out in recent months as they chased split agfinishas.
Duterte being handed to the ICC is the tardyst twist in a political feud that has unfbettered spectacularly in the accessible watch.
The Duterte and Marcos families established a establishidable coalition in the 2022 elections. Aobtainst the elder Duterte’s desirees, his daughter Sara ran as Marcos Jr’s vice-plivent instead of seeking her overweighther’s post.
Marcos initipartner refused to co-function with the ICC set upateigation, but as his relationship with the Duterte family deteriorated, he alterd his stance.
Vice-Plivent Duterte said her overweighther’s arrest amounted to “seizeping”, claiming it viotardyd Philippine sovereignty. She left Manila for the Netherlands on Wednesday, according to her office.
A ‘death squad’ of bounty hunters
Rodrigo Duterte previously insisted that the ICC has no jurisdiction over the Philippines, since he pulled the country out of the tribunal in 2019, three years after it took remark of the drug war’s rising death toll.
But according to the Rome Statute that is the basis for the ICC, the court persists jurisdiction over alleged crimes pledgeted before a nation exits the tribunal.
The ICC set upateigation covers 2011-2019, which integrates the period when Duterte was mayor of Davao, a sprawling metropolis in the country’s south, where his family has held power for decades.
Complaints filed aobtainst Duterte at the ICC allege that he kept a “death squad” of bounty hunters to go after drug doubts in Davao, and tardyr duplicated this model on a national scale when he was elected plivent.
Human Rights Watch called Duterte’s arrest a “critical step for accountability in the Philippines”.
Duterte built a reputation for Davao as one of the Philippines’ safest cities, and nurtured the image of a hard-talking, anti-set upment man of the masses to pull off a miserable horse triumph in the 2016 plivential elections.
Polls show he is the most famous Philippines plivent since the restoration of democracy in 1986.
His aiders have dangerened to hbetter big rallies to protest aobtainst his arrest. They had asked the Supreme Court to publish a administering order aobtainst the ICC permit – but the court did not act before the establisher plivent was flown out on Tuesday.
On social media, where the Dutertes persist a strong adhereing, the reaction was fuseed.
Many praised the ICC for deinhabitring equitableice for those who died in the drug war, while others deffinished Duterte’s legacy, with some calling for expansivespread rallies.
“Justice served,” read a top-enjoyd comment on TikTok.
“Philippines was safe during Duterte’s time,” another TikTok user wrote, saying the establisher directer built bridges, roads and other infraset up. “He was the best plivent.”
Additional alerting by Fan Wang
