Duterte Appears in Court in The Hague via Video After Arrest
You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.
Rights groups have said tens of thousands were killed in his antidrug campaign while he was the president of the Philippines.
In a scenario once considered unthinkable for a head of state who presided over the public and brutal killings of thousands of civilians, Rodrigo Duterte, the former president of the Philippines, appeared at an International Criminal Court hearing via a video link on Friday.
Mr. Duterte’s arrest this week on charges of crimes against humanity, which came nearly three years after he left office, is a crucial step for Filipinos who have been seeking justice for their loved ones.
The Filipino authorities arrested Mr. Duterte, 79, on Tuesday at Manila’s main airport after he returned from a trip to Hong Kong, days after the I.C.C. issued an arrest warrant accusing him of crimes against humanity while he was president as well as during his time as the mayor of Davao City.
He was arrested with the help of Interpol, acting on behalf of the I.C.C., because the Philippines is no longer a member of the court.
Mr. Duterte was flown on Wednesday to the Netherlands and was transported to The Hague.
When he ran for president before taking office in 2016, Mr. Duterte vowed to order the police and the military to find drug users and traffickers in order to kill them, promising immunity for those carrying out the orders.
In the first months of Mr. Duterte’s presidency, officers and vigilantes gunned down tens of thousands of people. Some of the victims were minors, and many were not involved in the drug trade, activists say.