"Monumental Step": Ex-Philippines Pres. Duterte Arrested, Sent to Hague for Crimes Against Humanity

Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is being flown to The Hague to face charges of crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court over his brutal "war on drugs," during which police extrajudicially killed thousands of people, including many children. The ICC has been investigating Duterte since 2018. Duterte, now 79, served as president of the Philippines from 2016 to 2022. He once compared himself to Hitler, saying he would be "happy to slaughter" 3 million drug addicts, and last year admitted under oath that he oversaw a "death squad" of gangsters while he served as mayor of the southern city of Davao. "It is really a monumental step in the dispensation of justice," says Filipino scholar and activist Walden Bello, who previously served in the House of Representatives of the Philippines. He notes that despite the Duterte family's protestations, the former president's arrest is the result of a meticulous legal process that offers him a fair trial. "Due process is something that he never gave his victims," says Bello.

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