ICC Charges Former Philippines President Duterte with Crimes Against Humanity Over Alleged 76 Murders
Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court (ICC) have filed three counts of crimes against humanity against former President of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, alleging his role in at least 76 murders linked to his controversial “war on drugs” campaign. The 80‑year‑old former leader is currently in ICC detention in The Hague.
According to a heavily redacted charge sheet dated 4 July but made public on Monday, the first count accuses Duterte of acting as a co‑perpetrator in 19 murders committed between 2013 and 2016, during his tenure as mayor of Davao City.
The second count relates to 14 killings of individuals described as “High Value Targets” between 2016 and 2017, when Duterte served as president. The third charge concerns 43 murders allegedly carried out during “clearance” operations targeting lower‑level suspected drug users and dealers across the Philippines between 2016 and 2018.
ICC prosecutors contend that the actual scale of victimisation during the charged period was far greater, pointing to thousands of killings perpetrated consistently throughout the campaign. Rights groups have long claimed that Duterte’s anti‑drug drive resulted in widespread extrajudicial executions.
An arrest warrant issued on 7 March initially contained one count of crimes against humanity relating to 43 alleged murders. The expanded charges were filed on the eve of Duterte’s scheduled appearance before the ICC to hear the accusations against him.
That sitting was postponed as the court considers whether Duterte is medically fit to stand trial. His lawyer, Nicholas Kaufman, has argued that his client suffers from “cognitive impairment in multiple domains” and has urged the ICC to suspend proceedings indefinitely.
Duterte was arrested in Manila on 11 March, flown to the Netherlands the same night, and has since been held at the ICC’s detention unit in Scheveningen Prison. At his initial hearing, which he attended via video link, he appeared frail and disoriented, speaking very little.
