Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has made his first appearance at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague by video link to face charges of crimes against humanity over his deadly war on drugs.
The first Asian former head of state to face charges at the ICC appeared briefly on a video screen on Friday during a short hearing to inform him of the crimes he is alleged to have committed and his rights as a defendant.
Sounding frail and wearing a blue suit and tie, the 79-year-old spoke to confirm his name and date of birth.
The presiding judge allowed him to follow proceedings in absentia due to his long flight to The Hague.
Duterte stands accused of a crime against humanity over his years-long campaign against drug users and dealers that rights groups said killed as many as 30,000 people.
Duterte was turned over by the Philippines to the court on Wednesday. After he landed in the Netherlands, the former leader appeared to accept responsibility for his actions, saying in a Facebook video: “I have been telling the police, the military, that it was my job and I am responsible.”
In the prosecutor’s application for his arrest, he said Duterte’s alleged crimes were “part of a widespread and systematic attack directed against the civilian population in the Philippines”.
“Potentially tens of thousands of killings were perpetrated,” the office of Prosecutor Karim Khan alleged of the campaign that targeted mostly poor men, often without proof they were linked to drugs.
Duterte’s lawyer Salvador Medialdea told the court his client had been “abducted from his country”.
“He was summarily transported to The Hague. To lawyers, it’s extrajudicial rendition. For less legal minds, it’s pure and simple kidnapping,” Medialdea argued.
Medialdea also said Duterte was suffering “debilitating medical issues”, adding: “Other than to identify himself, he is not able to contribute to this hearing.”
Duterte’s swift arrest in Manila and turnover to the ICC came amid a spectacular meltdown in relations between his family and the Marcos family, who had joined forces in the Philippines presidential elections in 2022 and won in a landslide.
President Ferdinand Marcos and Vice President Sara Duterte, Rodrigo Duterte’s daughter, are at loggerheads with the latter facing an impeachment trial over charges, including an alleged assassination plot against Marcos.
Sara Duterte is in the Netherlands to support her father after calling his arrest “oppression and persecution”.
Earlier on Friday, she said she had submitted a last-minute bid to get the hearing moved.
Gilbert Andres, a lawyer representing victims of the drug war, said Rodrigo Duterte’s arrest “is a great signal for international criminal justice. It means that no one is above the law.”
Khan also hailed Duterte’s arrest as a key moment for victims and international justice as a whole.
“It’s important to underline as we now start a new stage of proceedings that Mr Duterte is presumed innocent,” Khan said.
