The former president of the Philippines made his first appearance by video link as his lawyer claimed he was “abducted” to appear at the International Criminal Court in the Hague.
Looking frail and wearing a blue suit and tie, Rodrigo Duterte, 79, replied briefly in English, his voice quavering, to confirm his name and date of birth before charges of criminal responsibility for crimes of humanity and murder were read out.
“He was bundled into a private aircraft and summarily transported to The Hague. To lawyers it’s extrajudicial rendition. For less legal minds it’s pure and simple kidnapping,” said Salvador Medialdea, Duterte’s lawyer, who added that the arrest was driven by political “score settling” and an “unlikely alliance” between the country’s President Marcos and the ICC.
“My client was abducted from his country. ICC private jets do not drop out of the thin air. That jet was co-ordinated in advance.”
Medialdea said that Duterte was forced to sit in transit in Dubai inside the chartered Gulfstream aircraft for more than five hours, even though the United Arab Emirates is not covered by the ICC’s jurisdiction.
He demanded an explanation of how the transfer “was anything other than a gross abuse of process”.
Judges allowed Duterte to stay seated in his cell at the nearby United Nations war crimes prison unit because he was tired after a “long journey with considerable time difference” after his arrest on Tuesday.
Iulia Motoc, the Romanian judge presiding over the international court, rejected his lawyer’s claim that he was not able to “contribute” to any proceedings because of his “debilitating medical issues”.
“I note that subsequent to your arrest the court doctor said that you are fully mentally fit and aware,” she said. “Mr Duterte will be able to raise all matters … including those related to the arrest during the proceedings.”
A confirmation of charge proceeding was set for September 23, a date “that may be postponed by the court.”
As he landed in the Hague on Wednesday, Duterte, was defiant and accepted responsibility for any killings in his war to prevent his island country becoming a narco-state. “I have been telling the police, the military, that it was my job and I am responsible,” he said.
Protests in support of Duterte took place outside the court. “Send him back! Send him back!,” shouted demonstrators.
Duterte, the first former Asian head of state to face ICC charges, stands accused of 43 murders during his years-long campaign against drug users and dealers.
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His unexpected arrest in Manila on Tuesday followed political feuding between the Duterte family and the Marcos clan, who had previously ruled the Philippines jointly.
President Marcos, Duterte’s successor and the son of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, is embroiled in a feud with Duterte’s daughter Sara, the vice-president, who faces an impeachment trial over charges including an alleged assassination plot against the president.
Duterte has undergone health checks during his detention in the Hague. The Philippine embassy in the Hague said on its website that the former president told a consular official he had “received medical care and that he is generally fine”.
Sara Duterte is in the Netherlands to support her father, after labelling his arrest “oppression and persecution” and having failed to secure an emergency injunction in the Philippines to stop his transfer to the Hague.
The heated domestic politics surrounding Duterte will complicate what is a high-profile prosecution for the ICC.
The court has previously been criticised for issuing arrest warrants for the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, over the war in Gaza. Last month, President Trump imposed sanctions on the court over what he said were “illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel”.
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The court’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, called Duterte’s arrest a key moment for “international justice”, saying: “Many say that international law is not as strong as we want, and I agree with that. But as I also repeatedly emphasise, international law is not as weak as some may think.” He added: “It’s important to underline that Mr Duterte is presumed innocent.”
Duterte was president for six years from 2016 to 2022, presiding over a punishing crackdown on narcotics that critics say involved summary and extrajudicial killings. Estimates of the death toll vary considerably from about 6,000 in the official police figures to the 30,000 deaths claimed by human rights groups.
He was arrested on charges “that Mr Duterte is individually responsible as an indirect co-perpetrator for the crime against humanity of murder” based on 43 killings allegedly committed between November 2011 and March 2019.
“The [court] found reasonable grounds to believe that he, jointly with and through other persons, agreed to kill individuals they identified as suspected criminals or persons having criminal propensities, including but not limited to drug offenders,” an ICC statement said.
The court was established in 2002 to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression when countries signatory to its Rome Statute are unwilling or unable to do so themselves.
In 2018, the Philippines withdrew from the ICC after Duterte, who was then president, accused it of “baseless, unprecedented and outrageous attacks”.
The ICC has had a mixed record compared with United Nations tribunals, such as that on the former Yugoslavia. It has previously secured only 11 convictions, of which only six have been for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The six convicted men were all African militia leaders from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali and Uganda. Terms ranged from nine to thirty years in prison. The maximum possible term is life imprisonment.
“I see the arrest and handing over of Duterte as a gift at an important moment in time,” said Willem van Genugten, professor of international law at Tilburg University in the Netherlands. “It’s very important to have caught such a big fish.”
