Marcos says will not hand Duterte to International Criminal Court over drug war

MANILA: Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos said Monday he would not hand his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte to the International Criminal Court, which is investigating his deadly drug war.

“We don’t recognise the warrant that they will send to us. That’s a no,” Marcos said at a forum with the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines.

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Thousands of people have been killed in the anti-narcotics campaign started by former president Duterte in 2016 and continued under Marcos.

Duterte withdrew the Philippines from the International Criminal Court in 2019 after the Hague-based tribunal started probing allegations of human rights abuses committed during his drug war.

Marcos has repeatedly ruled out rejoining the court.

The ICC launched a formal inquiry into Duterte’s crackdown in September 2021, only to suspend it two months later after Manila said it was re-examining several hundred cases of drug operations that led to deaths at the hands of police, hitmen and vigilantes.

The then ICC chief prosecutor later asked to reopen the inquiry in June 2022, and pre-trial judges at the court gave the green light in late January 2023 - a decision that Manila appealed shortly afterwards and lost.

More than 6,000 people were killed in anti-drug operations under Duterte, according to official data released by the Philippines. ICC prosecutors estimate the death toll at between 12,000 and 30,000.