THE HAGUE, March 13. /TASS/. Rodrigo Duterte, ex-president of the Philippines, has been transferred to a pre-trial detention center in the Hague, said an International Criminal Court (ICC) spokesperson
"Duterte has been taken into custody and is in a pre-trial detention center in the Hague," the spokesperson said. "He was admitted today after passing all medical checks."
The ex-president, who is suspected of crimes against humanity, arrived in the Netherlands on March 12. It is not specified where he spent the night. The court argues that it has reasonable grounds to believe that Duterte, who was in power from 2016 to 2022, bears individual responsibility and is indirectly complicit in a number of murders committed in the Philippines between November 1, 2011, and March 16, 2019, during the so-called war on drugs.
The ICC Prosecutor's Office launched a comprehensive investigation into the situation in the Philippines in 2021. The investigation concluded that as part of a campaign conducted by the authorities, from 12,000 to 30,000 people were killed for using or selling drugs, and some of the incidents may have been killings without trial and investigation committed during police operations.
The Philippines withdrew from the ICC in 2019. However, the court believes that it retains its jurisdiction over the crimes committed while the country was its member.