Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte says ‘I am responsible’ after arrest by International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity.
Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has taken full responsibility for his deadly so-called “war on drugs”, in a video message posted on Facebook, following his arrest on a warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The video, which has been viewed millions of times, shows only Duterte speaking and appears to have been recorded inside the plane which transported him to the Netherlands on Wednesday and the ICC in The Hague.
“I am the one who led our law enforcement and military. I said that I will protect you and I will be responsible for all of this,” Duterte said in the video posted to his and a close adviser’s Facebook pages.
“I have been telling the police, the military, that it was my job and I am responsible,” said the 79-year-old, who has become the first Asian former head of state scheduled to appear before the ICC.
“This will be a long legal proceeding. But I say to you, I will continue to serve my country. And so be it, if that is my destiny,” he said.
“I am OK, do not worry,” he told his supporters in the more than two-minute clip.
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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 against humanity for overseeing a brutal antidrug crackdown which killed more than 6,000 people during his six years in office. Some human rights groups believe the actual number of deaths could be in the tens of thousands.
The ICC arrest warrant says that as president, Duterte created, funded and armed death squads that carried out murders of purported drug users and dealers.
In a statement, the ICC said Duterte was “surrendered to the custody of the International Criminal Court. He was arrested by the authorities of the Republic of the Philippines … for charges of murder as a crime against humanity”.
He has been transferred to a detention facility on the Dutch coast, the statement said, and would be brought before an ICC judge in The Hague in the coming days for an initial appearance.
His daughter, Sara Duterte, the Philippine vice president, arrived in The Hague on Wednesday evening, her office said, to support her father’s legal defence. A media relations officer for the vice president said she planned to hold a news conference at The Hague on Friday.
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk described the arrest of Duterte as “a very important step towards seeking accountability for the thousands of victims of killings”.
Lawyers and academics said the arrest and transfer were a big moment for the ICC, which has been targeted by the United States government with sanctions over the issuing of arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant – who are accused of war crimes in Gaza.
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China, however, has warned the ICC against “politicisation” and “double standards”, saying it was “closely monitoring” Duterte’s case.