![]() It is not clear, however, whether proceedings will reach that stage. If the case progresses to trial, the prosecutor could ask the court to issue summons or arrest warrants in an effort to bring suspects to The Hague to appear before the court. This development means that the ICC prosecutor can now formally investigate the alleged crimes. The judges also authorised the prosecutor to look into similar crimes committed between 20 in and around Davao, where Duterte served as mayor and vice mayor for two decades before becoming president. After looking into evidence presented on behalf of over 200 victims, the three-judge chamber found that there was “reasonable basis” to launch the probe, taking the view that evidence of various killings throughout the country sufficiently established that “murder” had been committed for purposes of the Rome Statute, the ICC’s constitutive treaty. ![]() ![]() ![]() Instead, the prosecutor asserted that the campaign, which led to the deaths of thousands, was a “widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population” that “took place pursuant to or in furtherance of a State policy”. On 15 September, a pre-trial chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) authorised the court’s Office of the Prosecutor to open an official investigation into crimes against humanity allegedly committed in the Philippines between 20 as part of President Rodrigo Duterte’s controversial “war on drugs”, as well as atrocities around Davao, in the southern island of Mindanao, when he was the city’s vice mayor.įollowing a three-year “preliminary examination” of the alleged crimes, the prosecutor sought permission in June to proceed with a more formal investigation, arguing that Duterte’s anti-drug campaign “cannot be seen as a legitimate law enforcement operation”, adding that the killings can be viewed “neither as legitimate nor as mere excesses in an otherwise legitimate operation”. ![]()
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