FOLLOWING the arrest of former President Rodrigo Duterte it marked another era in Philippine history; after the country enforced a warrant of arrest request coursed through the InterPol from the International Criminal Court (ICC), with regards to the investigation over the bloody drug war during the Duterte Administration.
Duterte has been accused of crimes against humanity, and the ICC began conducting an investigation in order to find incriminating evidence that supports his inhumane activities during his extrajudicial killings (EJK).
The ICC or ‘The Court,’ is the world’s first permanent international court established in 2002 that investigates and prosecutes people who are accused of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and crimes of aggression.
Their goal is to put up a fight that ends impunity and prevents crimes from repeating itself. They hold those who are accused of the most serious crime accountable and punish them accordingly based on the degree of the crime they committed.
It is governed by the Assembly of State Parties that are made of nations that are party to the Rome Statute. These are made up of representatives from countries that have ratified the Rome Statute.
The ICC is not a substitute for national courts and can only intervene when a state is unwilling or unable to carry out an investigation and prosecute the accused.
Through the referrals of the State Parties or the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) will investigate by gathering and examining evidence, questioning people under investigation as well as victims and witnesses to find evidence.
After conducting an investigation, the ICC’s pre-trial chamber will review the evidence and from there, they will determine whether there is a reasonable basis if the accused has indeed committed a crime.
Once the prosecutor believes that there is enough evidence against the accused, they will submit a request for the warrant which will be reviewed by the Pre-Trial Chamber.
If the Pre-Trial Chamber finds that there’s enough evidence to incriminate the accused, that is the time when they will issue a warrant.
The warrant is then sent out to the country from where the accused is from along with an issue for a “request for surrender,” if mandated by the ICC.
With the warrant of arrest being issued, the international community is then expected to cooperate with the ICC to arrest and transfer the individual to The Hague for trial.
Duterte will now join the ranks of war criminals and dictators after being arrested on a warrant issued by the ICC for his deadly “War on Drugs” campaign, which took thousands of Filipinos during his time, and become the first Asian former head of state to go on trial at the ICC.
The ICC warrant comes over nine years after the tribunal first became aware of the mass killings with Duterte’s campaign, which resulted in nearly 30,000 deaths, including those killed in an unjust manner.
According to the tribunal’s website, there are at least 31 people who have active arrest warrants and are still at large after the ICC thoroughly investigated their cases.
During the court’s two-decade existence, 60 warrants have been issued, 21 of which have been held or appeared in court, while seven have passed away.
Aside from the former President of the Philippines, at least four more individuals holding ICC arrest warrants were either previous or still serving as leaders of their respective countries at the time of issuance.
Former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and Saif Gaddafi have been issued arrest warrants, while current leaders include Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The ICC is seeking former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for suspected war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide perpetrated during the Darfur War between 2003 and 2008.
The claims against him included mass executions, rapes, torture, and pillaging, among others, as part of the Sudanese government’s five-year counter-insurgency operation against opposition armed groups that began in April 2003.
Saif Gaddafi, son of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, has also been handed down with an ICC arrest warrant for alleged crimes against humanity committed during the 2011 revolt against his father’s reign.
The charges originate from a brutal attack on protests and opposition groups that resulted in numerous deaths, arbitrary detentions, and persecution. However, he was eventually released and awarded complete amnesty in 2017.
Current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is also wanted for suspected crimes against humanity and war crimes committed between October 8, 2023 and May 20, 2024, during the Gaza confrontation.
Based on reasonable grounds, he is judged to be criminally culpable for the war crime of starvation as a means of warfare, as well as the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other heinous acts.
On March 17, 2023, the Pre-Trial chamber II of the International Criminal Court (ICC) mandated two arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova.
Vladimir Putin, the President of the Russian Federation, is accused of acts of war crimes including “unlawful deportation of population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from the areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.”
Despite the incriminating warrants against the Russian leader, it is unlikely for him to get arrested while he is still in power. The ICC also does not have its own police force so in consequence, it relies on countries to enforce the said warrants.
With Russia not being part of the Rome Statute, it is very unlikely for Putin to travel in countries as it puts him at risk of being arrested by the interpol.
Despite the charges and incriminating evidence on his crimes; the ICC isn’t likely to arrest Putin as the court does not push through trials in absentia without the present accused.
On Tuesday, Duterte boarded a Gulfstream G550 (RP-C5219) at Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 in Manila. It left the country at exactly 11:03 p.m. to The Hague, Netherlands.
According to an online flight tracker, the aircraft landed at exactly 8:03 a.m. at the Al Maktoum International Airport in Jebel Ali, Dubai. Duterte will now fly to Rotterdam, where he is due to land this afternoon.
Meanwhile, the former president’s daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, arrived in the Netherlands about 7:00 a.m. this morning, beside his brother Cong. Paolo Duterte boarded a separate flight.
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