MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte dared the International Criminal Court (ICC) to put him behind the bars or hang him over alleged extrajudicial killings in his war on drugs.
In a speech on Friday, President Duterte insisted that he will not cooperate with foreigners if put on trial over thousands of deaths in his crackdown, during which activists say crimes against humanity were committed.
“You do not scare me that you will jail me in the International Criminal Court. I will never allow myself to answer these whites,” Duterte said.
“I will never, never, never answer any question coming from you. It’s bullshit to me. I am only responsible to the Filipino. Filipinos will judge,” he added. “And if you hang me for all what I did, go ahead. It will be my pleasure.”
Duterte has repeatedly criticized the ICC and threatened to slap or arrest its prosecutor, who in February 2018 announced a preliminary examination was being conducted into the drugs killings.
Duterte responded by unilaterally canceling his country’s membership of the court a month later, without legislative approval, saying it had deprived him of a presumption of innocence. Amnesty International called his move “misguided” and “cowardly.”
In a scheduled Dec. 5 report on its activities worldwide, the ICC said it had “significantly advanced” its examination and aimed to finalize it in 2020, then decide whether to seek a formal investigation.
Duterte’s anti-drugs crackdown has reportedly led to systematic executions and police cover-ups. Police reject that and say the nearly 7,000 people they have killed were armed drug suspects who resisted arrest./PN
