Former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte appeared before judges at the International Criminal Court in The Hague on Friday, days after his arrest in Manila on charges of murder related to the deadly “war on drugs” he had during office.
The 79-year-old man, who arrived in the Netherlands on Wednesday after being arrested in Manila on charges of crimes against humanity, sounded vulnerable as he spoke via the video link of the detention center, about a kilometer away where he was held.
For families of the victims of the drug connection, Mr. Duterte’s appearance in court a long -awaited sign of hope.
“This is the first step to acquiring justice,” Advocate Gilbert Andres, who represents the families, said outside the court.
But Mr. Duterte’s many vocal supporters say the arrest was illegal. His lawyer, Salvador Medialdea, used the hearing to deprive his arrest in Manila as a ‘pure and simple abduction’. He said that Mr. Duterte “all access to the legal profession in the country of his citizenship was denied, and all in the nature of political score.”
Presiding Judge Iulia Antoanella Motoc has determined a preface date of September 23 to determine if the testimony of the prosecution is strong enough to deliver the case to the hearing. If a hearing continues, it can take years, and if Mr. Duterte is convicted, he stares at a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
The estimate of the death toll during Mr. Duterte’s presidency ranges from the more than 6,000 reported by national police to 30,000, as reported by human rights groups.
The ICC judge said that Mr. Duterte was allowed to participate in his first trial through a video link due to the long flight of Manila.
Mr. Duterte, who wears a jacket and tie, listens to the audience through headphones, often with his eyes closed. He spoke in English to confirm his name and his date and place of birth. He was not expected to make a plea. The trial, which started about half an hour late, lasted about 30 minutes.
Medialdea said that Mr. Duterte was observed in the hospital due to health problems.
The judge, who Mr. Duterte addressed, said: “The court doctor was of the opinion that you were fully spiritually aware and fit.”
Mr. Duterte was arrested on Tuesday amid chaotic scenes in the Philippine capital after returning from a visit to Hong Kong. He was quickly put on a chartered jet and flew to the Netherlands.
His daughter, Sara Duterte, who is Vice President of the Philippines, visited him in the court’s detention center on Friday and met fans outside the court. Ms Duttere is a political competitor of the current president.
She said that her father was “in good spirit” and that she was “well cared for”, adding that his only complaint about the circumstances in which he was held was that he missed Philippine food.
“There will be a day of account for everyone,” she said.
Meanwhile, activists in Manila have marched to demand justice for the thousands of suspects in the cruel oppression of Mr. Duterte died. Families of those killed watched the ICC proceedings on the screens across the country, some of whom kept portraits of their dead loved ones while reading the charges against Mr Duttere in a courtroom on the other side of the world.
Prosecutors accuse Mr. Duterte of involvement as an ‘indirect co-offender’ in multiple murders, which amounts to a crime against humanity, because he allegedly oversees murders from November 2011 to March 2019, first while mayor of the southern city of Davao and later as president of the Philippines.
According to the prosecution for his arrest, Mr. Duterte, as mayor of Davao, issued orders to the police and other “hits” that formed the so-called Davao death groups or DDS.
Human rights groups and families of the victims have the arrest of Mr. Duterte regarded as a historical victory over state counselors, while the former president’s supporters affected the government’s surrender of a political competitor to a court whose jurisdiction they disputed.
“We are happy and feel relieved,” said 55-year-old Melinda Abion Lafuente, mother of 22-year-old Angelo Lafuente, who she said was tortured and killed in 2016.
The legal team of Mr. Duterte says the administration of current President Ferdinand Marcos JR should not have allowed the World Court to oversee the former leader, because the Philippines is no longer a party at the ICC.
Mr. Medialdea said that “two upset entities have closed an unlikely alliance. An established president who wants to neutralize and choke the legacy of my client and his daughter, ‘and’ an upset legal institution subject to delegitimization ‘.
Judges who Mr. Duterte’s arrest order approved, said the court had jurisdiction because the crimes claimed in the warrant were committed before Mr. Duterte withdrew the Philippines from the court in 2019.
Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report
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