1 of 3 | On Friday, the International Criminal Court (pictured in the Hague, Netherlands, in March) issued its ruling that denied Duterte’s release from detention over concerns of being a flight risk to appear at trial, to prevent him from obstructing criminal proceedings and keep Duterte from committing new crimes. File Photo by Robin Utrecht/EPA
The International Criminal Court on Friday rejected an appeal for temporary release by ex-Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte.
The pre-trial chamber of the Netherlands-based International Criminal Court issued its 23-page ruling on Friday in a Sept. 26 decision that denied Duterte’s release from detention over concerns of being a flight risk to appear at trial, to prevent him from obstructing criminal proceedings and keep Duterte from committing new crimes.
In March, Duterte, now 80, was arrested in Manila on the ICC’s warrant for alleged crimes against humanity over his bloody war on drugs while serving as president after the ICC launched a formal investigation in September 2021.
His lawyers initially proposed an electronic monitoring device and asylum in a host country as a means to satisfy the court.
Duterte’s campaign to eradicate drugs in the Philippines began shortly after he took office in June 2016 and resulted in the deaths of between 12,000 and 30,000 Filipinos.
The Hague’s International Criminal Court launched its preliminary examination into the Philippines in February 2018, which prompted the Duterte regime at the time to rescind its membership in the international court.
Meanwhile, the families of victims in Duterte’s deadly hardline crackdown pleaded that he remain jailed.
But despite this, Duterte recently was re-elected mayor of Davao City.
It arrived amid a public threat by Vice President Sara Duterte, his daughter, to “break him out” of jail and accused the Filipino government of deploying “fake” witnesses.
Sara Duterte managed to survive impeachment proceedings over the summer in attempts to remove her from office.
It also arrived amid visible tension between the Duterte’s and the President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, the son of ex-dictator Ferdinand and his wife Imelda Marcos in yet another family political dynasty currently at the epicenter of Filipino politics with members sitting in multiple elected roles.
