Duterte case brought to The Hague
Mass murder charges levelled against Philippine leader at international court
MANILA: A lawyer for confessed Davao Death Squad (DDS) hit man Edgar Matobato filed crimes against humanity charges against President Rodrigo Duterte and 11 of his allies in the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague over the killings of suspected criminals when he was mayor of Davao City, as well as thousands of drug suspects in his brutal war on drugs.
In a 77-page complaint submitted to the ICC, lawyer Jude Josue Sabio cited “continuing mass murder” in the Philippines, as shown by the thousands of deaths in Duterte’s campaign against crime and illegal drugs in Davao City, which he rolled out on a national scale after becoming President of the Philippines.
Malacañang or the President’s House slammed the filing of the complaint as part of efforts to embarrass Duterte on the eve of his playing host to the Asean Summit.
“(It was) apparently meant to create negative news in the midst of the Philippines Asean debut,” presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said in a statement.
Sabio told ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda on Monday that her speedy action on the complaint “would not only serve the noble ends of international criminal justice, but would also be the beginning of the end of this dark, obscene, murderous and evil era”.
From the time he was mayor of Davao City up to the time he became president, Duterte has been “repeatedly, unchangingly and continuously” committing mass murders “constituting crimes against humanity”, Sabio said in the complaint.
He said 1,400 people were killed in Davao City during Duterte’s long rule there as mayor and more than 7,000 people had been killed since Duterte launched his war on drugs after taking office as president at the end of June last year.
“Crimes against humanity are crimes of universal jurisdiction, but where a state like the Philippines fails to assume such universal jurisdiction for crimes against humanity continuously being committed in its very own territory, the International Criminal Court will have to intervene (in) a situation that is grave by any human standard,” he said.
“These mass murders undertaken as part of a widespread systematic attack against a civilian population of the Philippines, disproportionately against the poor or impoverished civilian population, constitute a flagrant, wanton and wilful violation of the non-derogable right to life enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and other international human rights laws,” he said.
“The grim statistics of more than 7,000 drug-related killings cannot be anything but grave.
“These more than 7,000 drug-related killings translate to roughly 1,000 killings per month,” he said.
At that rate and with impunity prevailing, the body count will reach 72,000 if Duterte completes his six-year term, Sabio said.
In his complaint, Sabio noted “sufficient factual and legal basis” for Bensouda’s office to confirm with the ICC Pretrial Chamber that there was enough evidence to put Duterte on trial for crimes against humanity.
Sabio requested Bensouda to investigate Duterte and his senior administration officials and, if the Pretrial Chamber finds enough evidence to put them on trial, issue a warrant for their arrest and detention in the ICC’s detention centre in The Hague to prevent them from killing more people and potential witnesses.
In October last year, Bensouda warned that her office would be “closely” monitoring the developments in the Philippines, and warned government officials that they were potentially liable to prosecution in the ICC.
These murders undertaken as part of a systematic attack, disproportionately against the poor or impoverished civilian population, constitute a flagrant, wanton and wilful violation of the right to life.
Jude Josue Sabio