Philippine ex-President Duterte appears by video link before international court judges in The Hague

Former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte is seen on a screen in the courtroom of the International Criminal Court, with his lawyer Salvador Medialdea seated left, in The Hague, Netherlands, Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, Pool)

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte appeared Friday by videoconference before judges at the International Criminal Court, days after his arrest in Manila on murder charges linked to the deadly “ war on drugs ” he oversaw while in office.

The 79-year-old Duterte didn’t show up at the court in The Hague, but appeared on a video screen from the detention center where he is being held, about a mile (1 1/2 kilometres) away.

His lawyer, Salvador Medialdea, used the hearing to slam his arrest in Manila as a “pure and simple kidnapping.” He said Duterte “was denied all access to the legal recourse in the country of his citizenship, and this all in the nature of political score settling.”

Presiding Judge Iulia Antoanella Motoc set a pretrial hearing date of Sept. 23 to establish if prosecution evidence is strong enough to merit sending the case to trial. If a trial does go ahead, it could take years, and if Duterte is convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

The judge said that Duterte had been allowed to participate in his first ICC hearing by videoconference because he had just come off a long flight.

Duterte, wearing a jacket and tie, listened to the hearing through headphones, often with his eyes closed. He spoke in English to confirm his name, and his date and place of birth. He was not required to enter a plea. The hearing, which started about a half-hour late, lasted around 30 minutes.

Medialdea said that Duterte had been under observation at a hospital because of health issues.

The judge, addressing Duterte, said: “The court doctor was of the opinion that you were fully mentally aware and fit.”

Estimates of the death toll during Duterte’s presidential term vary, from the more than 6,000 that the national police have reported and up to 30,000, according to numbers from human rights groups.

Duterte’s daughter greets supporters outside court

His daughter, Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte, met with supporters outside the court before Friday’s hearing and then visited him in the court’s detention center afterwards. Duterte is a political rival of the current president.

Duterte was arrested Tuesday amid chaotic scenes in the Philippine capital after returning from a visit to Hong Kong. He was swiftly put on a chartered jet and flown to the Netherlands. After a series of medical checks on arrival, he was taken to the court’s detention center.

Duterte’s supporters outside the court chanted ’’Send him back! Send him back!″ as they waited for his arrival. Meanwhile, activists marched in the Philippine capital region, demanding justice for the thousands of suspects killed in Duterte’s brutal crackdowns. Other groups set up large screens to allow families of suspects killed in the crackdowns to watch the ICC proceedings.

What is Duterte accused of?

Prosecutors accuse Duterte of involvement as an “indirect co-perpetrator” in multiple murders, amounting to a crime against humanity for allegedly overseeing killings from November 2011 until March 2019, first while he was mayor of the southern city of Davao and later as president of the Philippines.

According to the prosecution request for his arrest, Duterte, as Davao mayor, issued orders to police and other “hitmen” who formed so-called Davao Death Squads, or DDS.

He told them “that their mission was to kill criminals, including drug dealers, and provided clearance for specific DDS killings,” prosecutors allege, adding that he recruited, paid and rewarded the killers and “provided them with the necessary weapons and resources, and promised to shield them from prosecution.”

The document seeking an ICC warrant for Duterte said that prosecutors built their case using evidence including witness testimony, speeches by Duterte himself, government documents and video footage.

The reaction of rights groups to the arrest

Human rights groups and victims' families have hailed Duterte’s arrest as a historic triumph against state impunity, while the former president’s supporters have slammed what they call the government’s surrender of a political rival to a court whose jurisdiction they dispute.

“We are happy and we feel relieved,” said 55-year-old Melinda Abion Lafuente, mother of 22-year-old Angelo Lafuente, who she said was tortured and killed in 2016.

“Duterte’s appearance before the ICC is a testament to the courage and determination of the victims, their families, and Filipino activists and journalists to pursue justice no matter how long it takes,” said Bryony Lau, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Other leaders facing ICC arrest warrants, like (Russian President) Vladimir Putin and (Israeli Prime Minister) Benjamin Netanyahu, should take note that even those who seem untouchable today can end up in The Hague.”

Duterte’s defence

Duterte’s legal team said that Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s administration shouldn’t have allowed the global court to take custody of the former leader because the Philippines is no longer a party to the ICC.

Medialdea said that “two troubled entities struck an unlikely alliance. An incumbent president who wishes to neutralize and choke the legacy of my client and his daughter,” and ”a troubled legal institution subject to delegitimization.”

Harry Roque, Duterte’s former presidential spokesperson, told reporters outside the ICC that he has applied to be accredited as one of the ex-president’s lawyers. If approved, he would raise what he said was Duterte’s illegal arrest by Philippine authorities and the ICC’s lack of jurisdiction over the Philippines, which withdrew from the global court when Duterte was president.

The ICC judges who issued his arrest warrant say that the alleged crimes he is charged with happened before the Philippines withdrew from the court.

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By Mike Corder

Jim Gomez, Joeal Calupitan and Aaron Favila in Manila, Philippines, and Ahmad Seir in The Hague contributed to this report.