Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte Arrested on ICC Warrant

Duterte was arrested on suspicions of crimes against humanity shortly after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against him.

Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte delivers a speech during the proclamation rally for his political party PDP-Laban's senatorial candidates ahead of the midterm elections, at Club Filipino in San Juan, Metro Manila, Philippines, on Feb. 13, 2025. Eloisa Lopez/Reuters

Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte was taken into custody on Tuesday after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant over the deadly anti-drug campaign during his presidency.

Duterte, who served as the country’s president from 2016 to 2022, was arrested on suspicion of crimes against humanity shortly after arriving in Manila from Hong Kong on Tuesday.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has been investigating Duterte over alleged killings and human rights abuses committed during his war on drugs campaign, which human rights groups say amount to crimes against humanity.

During a March 9 event in Hong Kong, Duterte said he would accept an ICC arrest warrant but defended the anti-drug campaign, saying it was meant to protect the Filipino people from drugs.

“They’ve been after me for a long time,” he said in Filipino referring to the ICC, according to a translation. “Whatever my sins may be, I did them to bring some peace and security to the Filipino people.”

His former legal counsel, Salvador Panelo, said the arrest was illegal and claimed that police had denied Duterte legal representation.

“The ICC arrest warrant comes from a spurious source, the ICC, which has no jurisdiction over the Philippines,” Panelo said in a statement.

The ICC launched a probe into the Philippines’ anti-drug campaign in 2021. It was later suspended after the government pledged to conduct its own investigation.

The Philippine government has argued that the ICC has no jurisdiction over the case, citing its withdrawal from the court in 2019. The country left the ICC after then-Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda launched preliminary investigations into Duterte’s drug war over alleged human rights abuses.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who took office in 2022, has ruled out the possibility of the Philippines rejoining the ICC. While his administration has opposed the court’s investigation, it would be obligated to respond if the ICC’s request is routed through Interpol.

Duterte, 79, vowed last year to take “full legal responsibility” for the enforcement actions carried out under his leadership throughout the anti-drug campaign.

“Do not question my policies because I offer no apologies, no excuses. I did what I had to do,” he told the Senate in Filipino in October 2024, according to a translation.

Duterte was elected in 2016 on a promise to eradicate illegal drugs in the Philippines. Police targeted suspected drug dealers and users during the crackdown, but the campaign has allegedly led to extrajudicial killings of suspects in impoverished areas.

According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), the anti-drug crackdown had led to the deaths of over 12,000 Filipinos, with Philippine police responsible for 2,555 of these deaths.

HRW detailed in its 2017 report instances of police “falsifying evidence to justify unlawful killings,” claiming that most drug-related killing victims were poor people and suspected drug users rather than dealers.

“No evidence thus far shows that Duterte planned or ordered specific extrajudicial killings. But Duterte’s repeated calls for killings as part of his anti-drug campaign could constitute acts instigating law enforcement to commit the crime of murder,” it stated.

Police have denied involvement in those killings and reject allegations from rights groups of systematic executions and cover-ups.

Despite the country’s withdrawal in 2019, ICC prosecutor Karim Khan has said that the ICC “retains jurisdiction” over alleged crimes that occurred while the Philippines was a party to the court from Nov. 1, 2011, to March 16, 2019.

Several rights groups have backed the ICC’s investigation into the case, citing the government’s failure to provide evidence that it was conducting a probe into the alleged extrajudicial killings.

Reuters contributed to this report.