Duterte will be brought before an ICC judge in The Hague in the coming days for an initial appearance, court says.
Former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has arrived in the Netherlands and has been surrendered to the custody of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on allegations of crimes against humanity over his deadly “war on drugs”.
Duterte was arrested on Tuesday in the Philippine capital, Manila, after returning from a trip to Hong Kong, and placed on a plane to Rotterdam by police.
In a statement on Wednesday, the ICC said Duterte, 79, had been “arrested by the authorities of the Republic of the Philippines in accordance with an arrest warrant issued by Pre-Trial Chamber I for charges of murder as a crime against humanity”.
He will be brought before an ICC judge in The Hague in the coming days for an initial appearance, the statement said. He was transferred to a detention unit on the Dutch coast.
The ICC’s warrant for his arrest stated that as president, Duterte created, funded and armed death squads that took part in the murders of alleged drug users and dealers.
He could become the first Asian former head of state to go on trial in The Hague.
Rival protests
Outside the ICC building in The Hague, anti-Duterte protesters hailed his arrest and held banners that read, “We demand justice and accountability, Rodrigo Duterte is a war criminal!”
Menandro Abanes told the Reuters news agency that Duterte’s arrest was “great news for Filipino people”.
“I’m here to show my appreciation to [the] ICC for doing its job to end impunity,” Abanes added.
Another protester, Mary-Grace Labasan, also told Reuters that Duterte was “lucky”.
“He is experiencing the due process of law compared to the victims who were just being shot and killed without any due process,” she said.
Pro-Duterte protesters also gathered at the court building.
In 2021, the ICC opened its inquiry into the mass killings linked to the war on drugs, which was overseen by Duterte while he was mayor of the city of Davao and later as president.
According to the warrant, ICC judges who examined the prosecution’s evidence to support their request for his arrest found “reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Duterte is individually responsible for the crime against humanity of murder” as an “indirect co-perpetrator for having allegedly overseen the killings when he was mayor of Davao and later president of the Philippines.”
During Duterte’s six years as president, 6,200 suspects were killed during anti-drug operations, according to police. Human rights advocates estimate some 30,000 people were killed.