On social media claims, ‘so I fought drug trafficking’
The former president of the Philippines Rodrigo Roa Detterte, arrested yesterday in Manila in accordance with an international arrest warrant with murder accusations as crime against humanity, was handed over to the custody of the International Criminal Court (CPI).
On February 10, 2025, the CPI prosecutor’s office asked for a setback against Detterte for crimes against humanity (murder, torture and rape). The Chamber evaluated the material presented by the accusation and found “founded reasons” to believe that “Mr. Detterte is individually responsible as indirect co-author of the crime against the humanity of murder, presumably committed in the Philippines between November 1, 2011 and March 16, 2019”.
The Chamber also found that there was “a direct attack against a civilian population” while Drette was head of the Davao Death Squad (DDS) and while he was president of the Philippines. “There are well -founded reasons to believe that this initiative was widespread and systematic: the alleged attack has occurred over several years and has caused thousands of deaths”, we still read. As for “the alleged role of Mr. Detterte as head of the DDS and subsequently as president of the Philippines”, the Chamber believed that there were “reasonable reasons” to believe that he, together with other people and through them, had agreed to “kill individuals identified as suspicions of criminals or people with criminal propensities, including criminals linked to drug trafficking, initially in a dava. Village”. A hearing for Detterte’s initial appearance before the Court will be set in due course.
Former Filipino president Rodrigo Detterte declared himself “responsible” of the violent repression against drug trafficking, and not only, putting in place during his mandate and undertaken to protect the police and the army on his arrival in the Netherlands to face the case at the International Criminal Court. “It is I who led our law enforcement and the army: I said that I will protect you and that I will take responsibility for all this,” said Drette in a video shared on his page on social media and on that of one of his close councilor.
