The Philippine lawyer who wants to put Duterte in the dock

Jude Sabio, who describes himself as penniless and on the run, claims he’s received death threats from the president’s supporters on social media after filing a petition with the International Criminal Court

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Filipino lawyer Jude Sabio. Photo: Reuters

Published: 10:34pm, 18 Feb 2018Updated: 10:34pm, 18 Feb 2018

Philippine lawyer Jude Sabio says he has not been home for a year, steers clear of public events and is always looking over his shoulder after accusing President Rodrigo Duterte of crimes against humanity.

Sabio, a stocky 51-year-old, says he lives in constant fear of reprisals after filing a complaint at the International Criminal Court (ICC) against the wildly popular Duterte, whose administration Filipinos rate as the best performing since opinion polls started in the 1980s.

A little-known lawyer until he filed the complaint last April, Sabio argues that the deaths of thousands of Filipinos in a brutal war on drugs is Duterte’s method of controlling crime, and that he used the tactic effectively during his 22 years as the mayor of Davao City in the south of the country.

Duterte has repeatedly denied ordering extrajudicial killings while mayor or president and said again this month that he would “gladly” go before the ICC.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. Photo: AP

Court Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda earlier said her office had started a preliminary examination into whether any crimes against humanity had been committed and if ICC had jurisdiction.