Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte says ‘I’m accountable’ after arrest by Worldwide Prison Courtroom for alleged crimes in opposition to humanity.
Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has taken full accountability for his deadly so-called “war on drugs”, in a video message posted on Fb, following his arrest on a warrant from the Worldwide Prison Courtroom (ICC).
The video, which has been considered hundreds of thousands of instances, reveals solely Duterte talking and seems to have been recorded contained in the airplane which transported him to the Netherlands on Wednesday and the ICC in The Hague.
“I’m the one who led our legislation enforcement and navy. I mentioned that I’ll defend you and I will likely be chargeable for all of this,” Duterte mentioned within the video posted to his and an in depth adviser’s Fb pages.
“I’ve been telling the police, the navy, that it was my job and I’m accountable,” mentioned the 79-year-old, who has turn into the primary Asian former head of state scheduled to look earlier than the ICC.
“This will likely be a protracted authorized continuing. However I say to you, I’ll proceed to serve my nation. And so be it, if that’s my future,” he mentioned.
“I’m OK, don’t worry,” he advised his supporters within the greater than two-minute clip.
Duterte was taken into custody by the ICC following his arrest in Manila on Tuesday.
President of the Philippines from 2016 to 2022, Duterte faces allegations of crimes in opposition to humanity for overseeing a brutal antidrug crackdown which killed greater than 6,000 folks throughout his six years in workplace. Some human rights teams consider the precise variety of deaths might be within the tens of hundreds.
The ICC arrest warrant says that as president, Duterte created, funded and armed demise squads that carried out murders of purported drug customers and sellers.
In a press release, the ICC mentioned Duterte was “surrendered to the custody of the Worldwide Prison Courtroom. He was arrested by the authorities of the Republic of the Philippines … for costs of homicide as a criminal offense in opposition to humanity”.
He has been transferred to a detention facility on the Dutch coast, the assertion mentioned, and could be introduced earlier than an ICC choose in The Hague within the coming days for an preliminary look.
His daughter, Sara Duterte, the Philippine vp, arrived in The Hague on Wednesday night, her workplace mentioned, to help her father’s authorized defence. A media relations officer for the vp mentioned she deliberate to carry a information convention at The Hague on Friday.
United Nations Excessive Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk described the arrest of Duterte as “a vital step in the direction of in search of accountability for the hundreds of victims of killings”.
Legal professionals and teachers mentioned the arrest and switch have been a giant second for the ICC, which has been focused by america authorities with sanctions over the issuing of arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant – who’re accused of warfare crimes in Gaza.
China, nonetheless, has warned the ICC in opposition to “politicisation” and “double requirements”, saying it was “carefully monitoring” Duterte’s case.
