Former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte was on a plane bound for The Hague in the Netherlands on Tuesday night, following his arrest earlier in the day on an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant.
Lawyer Martin Delgra said that Duterte boarded a chartered plane at Manila’s international airport with three others at about 9pm local time, adding that it would be flying to the city in the Netherlands where the ICC has its headquarters.
Duterte, 79, was taken into custody on Tuesday morning at the airport in Manila after returning from a trip to Hong Kong, according to the Philippine government. He is facing charges of crimes against humanity in connection with his violent war on drugs from 2016-22.
“As I write this, he is being forcibly taken to The Hague tonight. This is not justice — this is oppression and persecution,” Vice President Sara Duterte said in a statement, adding that her father had been unable to assert his rights before local judicial authorities.
In earlier remarks that followed the arrest of her father, she said Filipinos should not follow orders from foreigners on their soil.
“We are not Filipinos for nothing,” she said.
She also denied reports that her father had sought asylum from the Chinese government when he visited Hong Kong, saying he had not spoken to any Chinese officials.
Duterte’s youngest daughter earlier posted that her father had boarded a plane, but said the family had not been informed of the destination.
“They took dad from us, put him on a plane and wouldn’t say where to. People, wake up,” Veronica Duterte wrote on Instagram with a picture of a small bus on an airfield.
A video posted on X by ABS-CBN News showed Duterte boarding a jet in Manila. The broadcaster did not say where the jet was headed.
Another lawyer for Duterte said earlier that his client’s arrest was unlawful, partly because the Philippines withdrew from the ICC while the former president was in office.
However, the court maintains it still has jurisdiction for crimes committed before the country withdrew its membership in March 2019.
The war on drugs that began in 2016 resulted in the deaths of about 6,200 people, according to official government statistics. Rights groups put the real total at anywhere between 12,000 and 30,000.
Duterte’s arrest is seen as a major step toward accountability for thousands of Filipinos who have long sought justice for their loved ones, many of whom were gunned down by police officers, hitmen and vigilantes.
Activists say the vast majority of victims were poor, urban Filipinos, some of whom were minors and people who had nothing to do with the drug trade.
Relatives of victims of extrajudicial killings during Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs gather during a mass, following the arrest of the former Philippine president, in Quezon City near Manila on March 11. (Photo: Reuters)