Manila [Philippines]: Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte was arrested on Tuesday in Manila following an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant for alleged crimes against humanity linked to his war on drugs, authorities confirmed.
According to a statement from the Presidential Communications Office (PCO), the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) in Manila received the arrest warrant from the ICC earlier today, as reported by the Philippine News Agency (PNA).
The media outlet stated that Duterte returned to the Philippines on Cathay Pacific flight CX 907 from Hong Kong at 9:20 am. Upon arrival, the Prosecutor General presented the official ICC notification confirming the arrest warrant for Duterte.
Duterte had recently addressed the Filipino diaspora in Hong Kong, delivering a fiery speech at a campaign rally on Sunday where he criticized the ICC investigation, CNN reported.
The 79-year-old former president is facing a charge of “the crime against humanity of murder,” linked to the deaths of tens of thousands of people allegedly killed by police and vigilantes without proper proof of drug involvement, according to the ICC.
Duterte’s controversial anti-drug campaign, which took place during his presidency from 2016 to 2022, has been widely criticized for violating due process and resulting in numerous deaths, including those of children, as noted in a complaint cited by Al Jazeera.
Following his arrest, Duterte questioned the legality of the ICC’s actions.
“What is the law and what is the crime that I committed?” Duterte said in a video uploaded on social media by his daughter, Veronica Duterte.
“Explain to me now the legal basis for my being here as apparently I was brought here not of my own volition. It’s somebody else’s,” he added.
Meanwhile, according to the PNA report, the Philippine National Police officers enforcing the warrant wore body cameras to ensure transparency during the operation.
Although the Philippines government previously announced it would not cooperate with the ICC investigation, it acknowledged that the country is still obliged to comply with its commitments to Interpol.