ASEAN Beat | Society | Southeast Asia

Former Philippine President Duterte to Stand Trial at ICC After Judges Confirm Charges

A pre-trial panel said that there were “substantial grounds” to believe that the 81-year-old was guilty of crimes against humanity linked to his violent “war on drugs.”

The flag of the International Criminal Court (ICC) flies outside the ICC building in The Hague, Netherlands.

Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte will face trial before the International Criminal Court (ICC) after judges yesterday confirmed charges of murder and attempted murder as crimes against humanity linked to his violent anti-drugs campaign.

In a statement yesterday, the ICC said that its Pre-Trial Chamber I “unanimously confirmed all the charges” against Duterte and “committed him to trial before a Trial Chamber.”

It added that the three-judge panel concluded that “there are substantial grounds to believe that Mr. Duterte is responsible for the crimes against humanity of murder and attempted murder.” These crimes “were committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack against a civilian population on the territory of the Republic of the Philippines” between November 1, 2011, and March 16, 2019.

This period covers both Duterte’s time as mayor of Davao City, and his time as president, ending on the date that he withdrew the Philippines from the ICC.

The Chamber based its decision on the “evidence and arguments” presented by prosecutors and defense counsel during the weeklong confirmation of charges in late February, the court’s statement said. It also took into account “the submissions and documents of the parties and participants, including participating victims.”

During the February 23-27 hearings, ICC prosecutors presented evidence to support three counts of murder and attempted murder allegedly committed in 49 specific incidents against 78 victims. Nineteen of the alleged murders were carried out between 2013 and 2016, when Duterte was mayor of Davao City. The remainder took place after his ascent to the presidency in 2016, when he launched a violent “war on drugs” campaign that took the lives of as many as 30,000 people. (The official figure from the Philippine police is 6,200.)

The judges’ decision came a day after the ICC’s Appeals Chamber rejected a request from Duterte’s legal team to dismiss the case on the grounds that the court did not have jurisdiction because of the Philippines’ withdrawal.

The pair of rulings mark an important milestone in the ICC’s case against Duterte, the culmination of years of painstaking legal work by prosecutors. In February 2018,........

© The Diplomat