Former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte will face trial at the International Criminal Court after judges on Thursday confirmed charges of crimes against humanity over his so-called “war on drugs.”
Duterte would be the first Asian former head of state to face trial at the ICC, which prosecutes individuals for the world’s worst crimes such as war crimes and crimes against humanity.
ICC pre-trial judges “unanimously confirmed all the charges… against Rodrigo Roa Duterte and committed him to trial,” the court said in a statement.
A trial of Duterte would come as the court faces the most difficult time in its 24-year history, with the United States sanctioning key judges and officials after the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister over the Gaza war.
However, it is unlikely the 81-year-old Duterte would actually appear in the dock in The Hague.
His defence team says he is too frail mentally to follow proceedings. He did not appear at a week of hearings in February to assess the validity of the charges.
The only time he has been seen since his arrest was an initial appearance via video, where he seemed confused and tired, his speech barely audible.
According to the pre-trial judges, there are “substantial grounds to believe that Duterte is responsible for the crimes against humanity of murder and attempted murder.”
The ICC will now set up a trial panel but it will likely be several months before proceedings begin.
ICC prosecutors welcomed the ruling, describing it as a “significant milestone” in their efforts to seek justice for victims of alleged extrajudicial killings.
Duterte’s defence lawyer Nicholas Kaufman said the idea that people were killed as a “State policy” would be proved a “complete fiction” during trial.
“The Defence will also show that the evidence of… criminal witnesses, so gleefully peddled by the former president’s many detractors, has zero weight,” Kaufman said in a statement to AFP.
‘He doesn’t deny it’
During February “confirmation of charges” hearings, the prosecution alleged Duterte killed thousands of suspected drug pushers and users, first as mayor of Davao City, then as president.
“Decades of murdering his own people, murdering the children of the Philippines, and he claims that he did it all for his country. He doesn’t deny it,” said Julian Nicholls, summing up for the prosecution after the hearings.
“He ran a death squad in Davao (city) that he created. He ran it for over 20 years before he became president. His promise was to kill thousands and he did.”
Judges heard dozens of Duterte speeches from the time, in which he vowed to kill drug dealers, as part of a drive to lower crime rates.
Duterte faces three counts of crimes against humanity, with prosecutors alleging his involvement in at least 76 murders between 2013 and 2018.
The prosecution has selected these alleged murders as “emblematic”, with rights groups and ICC prosecutors putting the total number of dead in the thousands.
The first count against him concerns his alleged involvement as a co-perpetrator in 19 murders between 2013 and 2016 when he was Davao mayor.
The second relates to 14 murders of so-called “High Value Targets” in 2016 and 2017 when he was president.
The third charge covers 43 murders committed during “clearance” operations of lower-level alleged drug users or pushers across the Philippines between 2016 and 2018.
Speaking during the February hearings, Kaufman said his client “maintains his innocence absolutely.”
He acknowledged Duterte’s speeches were peppered with threats but told judges there was no proven link between his client’s rhetoric and the alleged crimes.
“There is no smoking gun in this case,” Kaufman told the three-judge panel at the ICC.
In a separate procedure, the ICC Appeals Court on Wednesday confirmed the court had jurisdiction in the case, quashing a challenge from the defence.
Director of Amnesty International Philippines Ritz Lee Santos hailed the ruling as a “historic moment for victims and international justice.”
“It sends a clear message that those who are alleged to have committed widespread and systematic murder as a crime against humanity will one day find themselves in the dock, facing trial.”
(AFP)
