Prosecute Duterte for his crimes against humanity

The International Criminal Court’s full investigation into the drug killings under Duterte is a welcome development. The probe is an initial step in our long quest for truth, accountability, and justice. Farmers express full support to the ICC investigation,” according to KMP chairperson Danilo Ramos.

The farmers’ group said the probe would be significant in establishing state accountability on heinous killings. We share the hope of the families of “war on drugs” victims as we are also seeking justice for more than 300 peasant leaders and farmers killed under Duterte.  

We hope the investigation will hold Duterte and all officials involved in the drug war accountable for their crimes against the Filipino people. When all institutions in the Philippines fail to give justice to victims, the ICC is our last resort.

Based on the Statute on crime against humanity of murder, the ICC pre-trial chamber found a reasonable basis to investigate the killings related to the war on drugs campaign and killings in Davao City.  

The probe will cover crimes committed from November 1, 2011, to June 30, 2016, when Duterte was Mayor of Davao City, and July 1, 2016, up to March 16, 2019, when Duterte was already President. The killings fall within the period that the Philippines was a member of the ICC. The PH officially left the ICC on March 17, 2019.

In her earlier request for probe, former ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said the war on drugs killings appears to have been committed under an official State policy of the Philippine government.

The probe will include the notorious Davao Death Squad killings because of the similarities between the killings and the overlap of individuals involved during those periods.  Davao was the launching ground of the war on drugs killings.  

The ICC decision was signed by Presiding Judge Péter Kovács, Judge Reine Adélaïde Sophie Alapini-Gansou, and Judge María del Socorro Flores Liera. ###