{"id":748871,"date":"2026-04-24T02:44:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T02:44:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/748871\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T02:44:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T02:44:16","slug":"former-philippine-president-duterte-to-face-trial-at-international-criminal-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/748871\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Philippine President Duterte to face trial at International Criminal Court"},"content":{"rendered":"

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) \u2014 Judges at the International Criminal Court<\/a> on Thursday confirmed charges of crimes against humanity against former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte<\/a> for deadly anti-drug crackdowns<\/a> he allegedly oversaw while in office.<\/p>\n

A three-judge panel found unanimously there were \u201csubstantial grounds\u201d to believe the ex-leader was responsible for dozens of murders, first as mayor of the southern Philippine city of Davao and later when he was president.<\/p>\n

Duterte, who served as president from 2016 to 2022, was arrested in the Philippines last year<\/a> and flown to The Hague, where the global court is located. He denies the charges against him. <\/p>\n

In their 50-page decision, judges found that the evidence shows that Duterte, 81, \u201cdeveloped, disseminated and implemented\u201d a policy \u201cto \u2018neutralize\u2019 alleged criminals.\u201d <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n AP AUDIO: Ex-Philippine president Duterte to face trial on crimes against humanity charges\n <\/p>\n

International Criminal Court spokesperson Oriane Maillet announces formal charges against former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte who arrest at the age of 80 last year.<\/p>\n

According to prosecutors, police and hit squad members carried out dozens of murders at Duterte\u2019s behest starting in 2011, motivated by the promise of money or to avoid becoming targets themselves. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor some, killing reached the level of a perverse form of competition,\u201d deputy prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang told the court in pretrial hearings in February<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Estimates of the death toll during Duterte\u2019s presidential term vary, from the more than 6,000 that the national police have reported to up to 30,000 claimed by human rights groups.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors said in a statement on Wednesday that the decision \u201crepresents a significant milestone\u201d in their effort to bring accountability.<\/p>\n

Duterte\u2019s lead defense lawyer Nick Kaufman told The Associated Press he was disappointed in the decision, saying it \u201cis based on the uncorroborated statements of vicious self-confessed murderers acting as cooperating witnesses.\u201d <\/p>\n

A date for the start of the trial has not yet been set. <\/p>\n

Duterte has not been present in the courtroom for any hearings, having waived his right to appear. Last month judges found he was fit to stand trial<\/a>, after postponing an earlier hearing<\/a> over concerns about his health.<\/p>\n

In the Philippines, families of slain victims in the brutal anti-drugs crackdown rejoiced over the decision, saying it will bring them closer to justice and toward a closure of a tragic chapter in their lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is for all the victims, who were not even given the chance to be recognized as victims because their stories were twisted in police reports, investigations and findings,\u201d said Randy delos Santos, whose nephew, Kian delos Santos, was gunned down in an alley in August 2017 by three police officers.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnlike Kian, most other victims were nameless, voiceless and were just numbers and statistics whose horrific stories were never heard. Now the ICC will give their stories a chance to be told,\u201d delos Santos told the AP.<\/p>\n

Human rights groups also praised the decision. <\/p>\n

\u201cDuterte\u2019s trial will send a powerful message that no one responsible for grave crimes is above the law, whether in the Philippines or elsewhere, and that justice will eventually catch up with them,\u201d said Maria Elena Vignoli, senior international justice counsel at Human Rights Watch.<\/p>\n

ICC prosecutors said in 2018 that they would open a preliminary investigation into the violent drug crackdowns. In a move that human rights activists say was aimed at avoiding accountability, Duterte, who was president at the time, announced a month later that the Philippines would leave the court. <\/p>\n

On Tuesday, appeals judges rejected a request from Duterte\u2019s legal team to throw out the case on the grounds that the court did not have jurisdiction because of the Philippine withdrawal. <\/p>\n

In October, judges disqualified the court\u2019s chief prosecutor<\/a> Karim Khan from the case, citing a \u201creasonable appearance of bias\u201d because he represented victims of Duterte\u2019s alleged crimes before he took office at the ICC. Khan had already stepped back<\/a> from his duties pending the outcome of an independent investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press journalist Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) \u2014 Judges at the International Criminal Court on Thursday confirmed charges of crimes against…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":748872,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5],"tags":[13214,356,20228,57,4221,4228,89268,8300,2936,308331,50,240461,24958,127800,8956,8007,8572,103,107],"class_list":["post-748871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","tag-asia-pacific","tag-courts","tag-drug-crimes","tag-general-news","tag-homicide","tag-indictments","tag-international-criminal-court","tag-karim-khan","tag-law-enforcement","tag-maria-elena-vignoli","tag-news","tag-nick-kaufman","tag-philippines","tag-rodrigo-duterte","tag-the-hague","tag-trials","tag-violence","tag-world","tag-world-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116457391702555033","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/748871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=748871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/748871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/748872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=748871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=748871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=748871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}