“Early in the morning, Interpol Manila received the official copy of the CPI arrest order,” said a presidential statement. “Currently (Rodrigo Duterte) is in custody of the authorities,” he added.
The former 79 -year -old governor faces a position from the ICC for “crime against humanity for murder” for the drug campaign he carried out during his presidency (2016-2022).
According to Human Rights Associations, the campaign became the lives of tens of thousands of people, mostly poor men, often without evidence of their bond with drug trafficking.
Duterte demanded to know the foundation of his arrest, in a video published in the Instagram account of his youngest daughter, Verónica.
“What is the law and what the crime I committed? Show me the legal basis for which I am here, ”he said in the video.” They brought me here not for my will, but for another one (…) they have to answer for the deprivation of liberty, ”he added.
The place where the video was recorded was not revealed, Although his party released a photo that indicates that he was detained at the Villamor Air Basenext to Manila airport.
For his part, Vice President Filipina and daughter of the former president, Sara Duterte, said there are plans to quickly transfer him to The Hague. “While I write this, he is being brought to Hague tonight. This is not justice, this is oppression and persecution, ”he said in a statement.
Duterte was arrested at the capital airport after a brief trip to Hong Kong.
Speaking on Sunday thousands of Filipino workers in Hong Kong, the former president condemned the process against him.
The Philippines left the ICC in 2019 by order of Duterte, but the court maintained the jurisdiction on the case of the Matanzas, as well as another case of murders in the city of Davao when Duterte was the mayor, three years before being president.
Duterte received a veiled support from China, which, through a spokesman from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, urged the ICC to “exercise its power with prudence in accordance with the law and avoid politicization and double standard.”
Case interrupted
The CPI initiated a formal investigation in September 2021 but suspended it two months later, when the Filipino government said it was studying hundreds of cases of anti -drug operations that resulted in deaths at the hands of police, vigilantes and hitmen.
The case resumed in July 2023 after a panel of five judges rejected the government’s objection that the ICC had jurisdiction.
Since then, President Ferdinand Marcos has said he will not cooperate with the investigation.
Duterte has great popularity among many Filipino that supported their drastic way of fighting crime, and still has political influence.
He currently aspires to be again mayor of Davao, his electoral bastion, in the May elections.
To read more: Duterte says that he will not apologize for his bloody war against drugs
During his government, Duterte instructed the police to shoot to kill drug trafficking suspects if their lives ran risk, and insisted that the hard hand policy saved families and prevented the Philippines from becoming a “narco -esteem”.
In October, during a Senate investigation into the war on drugs, Duterte said he would not give “apologies or pretexts” for his actions.