Zürcher Nachrichten - Duterte set to make first ICC appearance

EUR -
AED 4.008471
AFN 76.946498
ALL 99.592699
AMD 428.209261
ANG 1.967627
AOA 998.652302
ARS 1165.230509
AUD 1.708705
AWG 1.96729
AZN 1.867419
BAM 1.958596
BBD 2.204367
BDT 132.648145
BGN 1.955039
BHD 0.411303
BIF 3182.043908
BMD 1.091423
BND 1.453775
BOB 7.543769
BRL 6.206376
BSD 1.091769
BTN 94.793756
BWP 14.844259
BYN 3.572917
BYR 21391.891818
BZD 2.193041
CAD 1.558814
CDF 3137.841078
CHF 0.96152
CLF 0.026365
CLP 1011.705255
CNY 7.899556
CNH 7.887764
COP 4464.531479
CRC 544.57241
CUC 1.091423
CUP 28.922711
CVE 110.834546
CZK 25.062331
DJF 193.967824
DKK 7.460619
DOP 68.431044
DZD 145.701701
EGP 55.129418
ERN 16.371346
ETB 141.176191
FJD 2.487349
FKP 0.84346
GBP 0.839986
GEL 3.039612
GGP 0.84346
GHS 16.927999
GIP 0.84346
GMD 78.582516
GNF 9451.72389
GTQ 8.418094
GYD 228.417121
HKD 8.480379
HNL 28.142372
HRK 7.534747
HTG 143.185716
HUF 397.954936
IDR 17856.554268
ILS 3.985828
IMP 0.84346
INR 94.619666
IQD 1429.764198
IRR 45948.909941
ISK 146.425567
JEP 0.84346
JMD 170.984087
JOD 0.773931
JPY 162.652051
KES 141.340485
KGS 95.385792
KHR 4380.422628
KMF 493.159886
KPW 982.280747
KRW 1576.265378
KWD 0.336489
KYD 0.909803
KZT 544.352098
LAK 23618.395018
LBP 97736.934135
LKR 323.574881
LRD 217.192723
LSL 20.016633
LTL 3.222688
LVL 0.660191
LYD 5.260918
MAD 10.579983
MDL 19.625106
MGA 5113.317287
MKD 61.535454
MMK 2291.971003
MNT 3789.946798
MOP 8.737934
MRU 43.55847
MUR 49.168486
MVR 16.81907
MWK 1894.710778
MXN 21.78368
MYR 4.85139
MZN 69.743763
NAD 20.016627
NGN 1680.693157
NIO 40.131433
NOK 11.501072
NPR 151.67021
NZD 1.874704
OMR 0.420213
PAB 1.091759
PEN 3.995687
PGK 4.380996
PHP 62.445784
PKR 305.65266
PLN 4.185869
PYG 8676.385903
QAR 3.973322
RON 4.977761
RSD 117.190865
RUB 91.076737
RWF 1534.540811
SAR 4.093605
SBD 9.180122
SCR 15.770788
SDG 655.945344
SEK 11.012885
SGD 1.451723
SHP 0.857687
SLE 24.917124
SLL 22886.596869
SOS 623.752705
SRD 39.390582
STD 22590.253601
SVC 9.552637
SYP 14190.617778
SZL 20.016452
THB 36.649921
TJS 11.932706
TMT 3.830895
TND 3.364311
TOP 2.556224
TRY 39.976101
TTD 7.410511
TWD 35.977669
TZS 2890.386423
UAH 45.261413
UGX 4004.7169
USD 1.091423
UYU 46.526418
UZS 14120.283675
VES 71.537099
VND 27864.030516
VUV 134.198576
WST 3.076171
XAF 656.894745
XAG 0.03228
XAU 0.000364
XCD 2.949626
XDR 0.817964
XOF 657.588296
XPF 119.331742
YER 269.308902
ZAR 19.738239
ZMK 9824.099452
ZMW 31.315704
ZWL 351.437777
  • RBGPF

    -0.4100

    66.02

    -0.62%

  • CMSC

    0.1100

    23.33

    +0.47%

  • NGG

    0.9300

    64.14

    +1.45%

  • RIO

    0.4300

    63.47

    +0.68%

  • BTI

    0.4800

    41.84

    +1.15%

  • GSK

    0.7600

    40.25

    +1.89%

  • RELX

    0.6700

    49.6

    +1.35%

  • VOD

    0.3100

    9.86

    +3.14%

  • AZN

    -0.2300

    77.37

    -0.3%

  • BP

    0.3700

    33.76

    +1.1%

  • SCS

    0.0200

    11.01

    +0.18%

  • JRI

    0.1700

    13

    +1.31%

  • BCC

    0.6500

    100

    +0.65%

  • CMSD

    0.1900

    23.54

    +0.81%

  • RYCEF

    0.1000

    10.45

    +0.96%

  • BCE

    0.2300

    23.7

    +0.97%

Duterte set to make first ICC appearance
Duterte set to make first ICC appearance / Photo: Robin Utrecht - ANP/AFP

Duterte set to make first ICC appearance

Former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte is expected to make his first appearance at the International Criminal Court later Friday to face crimes against humanity charges over his deadly war on drugs.

Text size:

The 79-year-old will appear before judges for a short hearing where he will be informed of the crimes he is alleged to have committed, as well as his rights as a defendant.

Duterte, the first Asian head of state to face ICC charges, stands accused of the crime against humanity of murder over his years-long campaign against drug users and dealers that rights groups said killed thousands.

In the prosecutor's application for his arrest, they said Duterte's alleged crimes were "part of a widespread and systematic attack directed against the civilian population in the Philippines."

"Potentially tens of thousands of killings were perpetrated," the prosecutor alleged about the campaign that targeted mostly poor men, often without proof they were linked to drugs.

Victims' families have welcomed the trial as a chance to get justice, while Duterte supporters believe he was "kidnapped" and sent to The Hague amid a spectacular fall-out with the ruling Marcos family.

A group of family members, lawyers and human rights activists was set to gather in Manila on Friday night to watch a livestream of the ICC hearing, said organisers Rise Up and the Duterte Accountability Campaign Network.

According to international law experts, his whirlwind arrest and surrender to the ICC marks a welcome boon for the embattled court which is being attacked from all sides and sanctioned by the United States.

"I see the arrest and handing over of Duterte as a gift at an important moment in time," Willem van Genugten, Professor of International Law at Tilburg University in The Netherlands, told AFP.

The hearing is due to take place at 2:00pm local time (1300 GMT) at the hulking glass headquarters of the ICC based in the Hague. Pro- and anti-Duterte protests are expected outside.

- 'Kill all of you' -

As he landed in The Hague, the former leader appeared to accept responsibility for his actions, saying in a Facebook video: "I have been telling the police, the military, that it was my job and I am responsible."

In his application for arrest, the prosecutor quotes from some of Duterte's more colourful pronouncements when he was running for president.

He is cited as saying the number of criminal suspects killed "will become 100,000... I will kill all of you" and the fish in Manila Bay "will become fat because that's where I will throw you."

Duterte has undergone health checks during his detention in The Hague. The Philippines embassy in The Hague said on its website the former president told a consular official he had "received medical care and that he is generally fine."

Vice-President Sara Duterte is in The Netherlands to support her father, after labelling his arrest "oppression and persecution", with the Duterte family having sought an emergency injunction from the Supreme Court to stop his transfer.

At the initial hearing, a suspect can request interim release pending a trial, according to ICC rules.

Following that first hearing, the next phase is a session to confirm the charges, at which point a suspect can challenge the prosecutor's evidence.

Only after that hearing will the court decide whether to press ahead with a trial, a process that could take several months or even years.

Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan hailed Duterte's arrest as a key moment for victims and international justice as a whole.

"Many say that international law is not as strong as we want, and I agree with that. But as I also repeatedly emphasise, international law is not as weak as some may think," Khan said in a statement following Duterte's arrival in ICC custody.

E.Schneyder--NZN