Outside the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) detention centre, where former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte was taken on Wednesday, his supporters gathered, waving national flags and shouting, “Bring him back!” as he was driven through the imposing iron gates at speed.
Shortly before he landed in the Netherlands, the 79-year-old unapologetically defended his bloody “war on drugs” for which the ICC says there are “reasonable grounds” to charge him with murder as a crime against humanity.
Small-time drug dealers, users and others were killed without trial on his watch as mayor and, later, as president.
The official toll stands at 6,000, though activists believe the real figure could run into the tens of thousands.
Duterte said he cracked down on drug dealers to rid the country of street crimes.
However, rights groups allege that the campaign was rife with police abuse, targeting young men from the urban poor.
Duterte is the first Asian former head of state to be indicted by the ICC – and the first suspect to be flown to The Hague in three years.
And his arrival comes at a pivotal moment for the International Criminal Court.
Rodrigo Duterte’s arrest and deportation on Monday was the result of an unprecedented chain of events.
His supporters allege that the ICC is being used as a political tool by the country’s current president Ferdinand Marcos who has publicly fallen out with the powerful Duterte family.
Credit: bbc.com
