Ex-Philippines leader Duterte to appear before ICC for first time
The 79-year-old, who landed in the Netherlands on Wednesday, is accused of crimes against humanity amid the "war on drugs" during his time in power, including the murder of at least 43 people between 2011 and 2019.
The court in The Hague said in a Thursday statement that Duterte would make his initial appearance at 2 pm (1300 GMT). The hearing was set to be streamed with a 30-minute delay.
"During the initial appearance hearing, the judges will verify the identity of the suspect and the language in which he is able to follow the proceedings," the court said.
"He will be informed of the charges against him and of his rights under the ICC Rome Statute."
The former Philippines leader was detained at the airport in Manila on Tuesday on a warrant issued by the ICC, and flown out of the capital in a chartered aircraft the same day, with a stopover in Dubai. He was surrendered to the custody of the ICC on Wednesday, the court said.
Duterte was president of the Philippines from 2016 to 2022, during which time he led a ruthless fight against drug-related crime.
Police figures show that around 6,000 people were killed during the drug campaign, but human rights organizations estimate that the number was as high as 30,000.
Suspects were often executed without trial.
The arrest warrant states that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Duterte was individually responsible for murders that may be considered crimes against humanity, first as mayor of the city of Davao and later as president.
It will likely take a few months before the indictment is examined in a preliminary hearing.
The ICC has been investigating the alleged crimes in the Philippines since 2018.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNBC
13 minutes ago
- CNBC
Gold rebounds from two-week low; Trump-Zelenskiy meeting in focus
Gold rose after hitting a two-week low, supported by lower U.S. Treasury yields as investors awaited U.S. President Donald Trump's meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and European leaders to discuss a peace deal with Russia. Spot gold was up 0.3% at $3,345.64 per ounce, as of 0156 GMT on Monday, after hitting its lowest level since August 1. U.S. gold futures for December delivery rose 0.3% to $3,391.80. "Gold was on the back foot to start the day, but ... was able to reverse course with buyers stepping up to around the $3,330 level as a value play. U.S. treasury yields gave up some of Friday's gains which also helped to make life easier for the gold price," said Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at KCM Trade. European leaders are set to join Zelenskiy for discussions with Trump. Russia would relinquish tiny pockets of occupied Ukraine and Kyiv would cede swathes of its eastern land which Moscow has been unable to capture, under peace proposals discussed by Russia's Vladimir Putin and Trump at their Alaska summit, sources briefed on Moscow's thinking said. "We are seeing limited moves in either direction ahead of what could be some lively meetings in the White House this week with Zelenskiy back in town," Waterer said. Meanwhile, benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yields eased from more than two-week high level. Investors are also looking ahead to the Federal Reserve's annual symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Economists polled by Reuters largely expect the Fed to announce a rate cut in September, its first this year, with a possible second cut by the year-end amid mounting U.S. economy woes. Non-yielding bullion, considered a safe-haven assets during periods of uncertainity, tends to perform well in low-interest-rate environment. Elsewhere, spot silver rose 0.3% to $38.08 per ounce, platinum gained 0.8% to $1,346.61 and palladium was up 1.3% to $1,126.85.
CNN
13 minutes ago
- CNN
After Putin's win in Alaska, Zelensky travels to Washington for his day of high stakes talks, how far can he push Trump?
Donald Trump Russia War in Ukraine MediaFacebookTweetLink Follow At what was billed as an 'historic' presidential summit, hastily put together in Alaska on Friday afternoon, the optics were as clear and overshadowing as the vast Chugach mountains glistening over Anchorage in the summer sun. US President Donald Trump literally applauded Vladimir Putin as he walked along a red carpet laid out in his honor by genuflecting US troops. After warmly greeting the Russian president, whose full-scale invasion of Ukraine has so far left more than a million people dead and injured, a US B-2 stealth bomber, flanked by fighter jets, roared overhead. But Putin seemed unintimidated by the spectacle. This was, after all, his long-awaited coming out of international isolation party; a political gift bestowed upon the Kremlin strongman, who is indicted for war crimes at the International Criminal Court, by a US president who called him his friend, 'Vladimir.' Later, in the windowless press room on Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson near Anchorage, where the White House and Kremlin press pools had gathered wrongly expecting a joint news conference, we found ourselves positioned alongside an energetic, tight-suited reporter from one of the radically conservative news networks who seem to vie for Trump's favor. 'Trump is determined to exit Biden's war,' the reporter confided to me between live shots, referring to the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine that began in 2022 when Joe Biden was US president. 'But the Ukrainians and the Europeans are in his way,' the reporter added, seemingly frustrated, as Trump, at the reluctance to accept any deal at any price. The comment points to an even bigger, though less obvious, Putin victory than merely returning to the top table of international diplomacy: In pursuit of a quick peace deal in Ukraine, the US president appears to have taken Russia's side on key issues in the conflict. A ceasefire, for example. Ukraine and its European supporters have long argued that halting the violence must be an essential first step in peace talks. Trump, who had earlier accepted that, has apparently changed his mind, posting on his Truth Social platform about going for a full peace deal instead, a long-standing preference of the Kremlin, which sees no benefit in halting offensive operations at a time when it believes Russian forces have the upper hand. As President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine heads to Washington, flanked by European leaders, for direct and urgent talks with Trump, this about-face by the White House will be at the forefront of concerns and negotiations – alongside demands by Putin, and perhaps Trump too, for Kyiv to withdrawal from swathes of strategic territory in the Donbas region of Ukraine that has been annexed by Russia but not yet conquered. That may ultimately be a red line neither Ukraine nor Europe is willing to cross, and their leaders are likely to push back hard in Washington on these territorial demands. But saying no to a quick deal that Trump supports, perhaps thoughts of a Nobel Peace Prize within his grasp, Ukraine and Europe risk casting themselves at the White House – not the Kremlin – as the real obstacles to peace. The fact major territorial concession is being discussed at all is itself, from the Kremlin's point of view, yet another important win. While Ukraine and its Western backers haggle over how much more of Donbas Kyiv should surrender, the territory Russia has already captured by brute force is barely mentioned at all. In the days and the weeks ahead, as the success or failure of peace talks inevitably dominate the news agenda, it's worth considering not just what Putin can get, but what Trump wants. The anticlimactic Alaskan summit was, perhaps, a clue. Watching it firsthand, it was striking how deferential a usually domineering Trump appeared, even allowing Putin – a foreign guest on American soil – to speak first in the joint statements to the press. The US president stood listening quietly at his podium for several minutes as the Kremlin leader held forth on Alaska's Russian and American history before delivering his own impressions of the day's meetings. It was almost as if Putin, who confidently suggested Trump visit Moscow – in a rare English-language remark from the Russian president – was accepting Trump back into the fold, not the other way around; reintroducing him to the world from Alaska as a fellow strongman, with immense power, many thousands of miles away from the petty concerns of Ukraine and Europe.
Yahoo
18 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump Rates Putin Ceasefire Flop as 10 Out of 10
President Donald Trump has rated his meeting with Vladimir Putin as a 10 out of 10, despite leaving Alaska without a ceasefire deal and providing little detail on what he achieved from the summit. Speaking after his high-stakes meeting with Putin, Trump also put the onus on Ukraine to end the war that Russia started, declaring, 'It's really up to Zelensky to get it done.' 'It's still not a done deal at all,' Trump told Fox News' Sean Hannity on Friday. 'And Ukraine has to agree. But it's a terrible war and they're losing a lot—both of them are—and hopefully it can get completed.' What exactly Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky would have to agree to is not yet clear, as Trump refused to tell even Hannity, one of his most loyal, high-profile cheerleaders. But ahead of the meeting, the president had said that any progress would probably involve Ukraine giving up territory to Russia as well as its ambitions to enter NATO. Asked how he would grade the summit on a scale of one to 10, the president replied, 'I think the meeting was a 10 in the sense that we got along great. And it's good when, you know, two big powers get along—especially when they're nuclear powers.' Friday's summit at Alaska's Joint Base Elmendorf–Richardson was Putin's first time on U.S. soil in 10 years. After years of being frozen out by the West, the Russian president had been invited by Trump to Alaska in the hope of brokering a deal to end the war in Ukraine, which began in February 2022 when Putin tried to claim the country as his own. 'It's interesting because someone said if I get this settled, I'll get the Nobel Peace Prize,' said Trump, who has also helped to broker peace agreements in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. 'But what about the other six wars or whatever? I mean those are big.' He also shared two of the things the pair discussed during their three-hour meeting: the 2020 election, which they both agreed was 'rigged,' and the investigation into Russia's meddling in the 2016 election. 'Putin said one of the most interesting things,' Trump recalled. 'He said 'your election was rigged because you have mail-in voting… And he said that to me because we talked about 2020. He said, 'You won that election by so much.'' The president also used the interview to heap praise on his Russian counterpart, whom the U.S government has previously sanctioned and who also faces arrest warrants for war crimes issued by the International Criminal Court. 'He's a strong guy, tough as hell,' Trump said. He also offered advice to Zelensky: 'Make a deal.' 'Russia is a very big power, and they're not,' the president said of Ukraine.
